COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : Tough Enough : USC’s Leslie Asserts Herself in the Middle

In the second round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday night at the Sports Arena, USC’s women’s basketball team needed help in a big way.

So, the Trojans went to their best player.

With 32 seconds left and USC holding a 71-70 lead over George Washington, USC’s players did the expected.

They gave Lisa Leslie the ball.

Leslie, at the high post, was guarded by 6-foot-5 center Martha Williams. Leslie drove down the right side of the key, stopped abruptly and made a six-foot jump shot.

The Trojans added free throws in the final seconds for a 76-72 victory, but Leslie’s basket in her last L.A. appearance was the difference.

USC (25-3)advances to the Mideast regional at Fayetteville, Ark., against Virginia (27-4) on Thursday night.

If the Trojans move on, it will be with the help of the 6-5 Leslie, a strong candidate to win the Naismith Award as the player of the year for women’s basketball.

“Lisa’s the best player in the country,” said Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer, shortly after Leslie and the Trojans defeated the Cardinal earlier this season.

And maybe the toughest, too, she might have added.

And that is something new.

A year ago, after Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes scored 33 points against USC in the West Regional at Bozeman, Mont., Leslie and USC had to watch as Swoopes’ team won the national championship.

“I was really discouraged that night (after the Texas Tech loss),” Leslie said.

“I felt like I hadn’t done enough, that I hadn’t improved as much as I should have in my college career. I had the feeling I could be doing so much more.”

She decided she could play tougher.

From the team’s Dec. 1 opening victory at Northern Illinois in November, through winning the Richmond Tournament that same week and through a 16-2 Pacific 10 championship season, opponents have witnessed a tougher, more intense Leslie.

When pushed around underneath, she answered with an elbow. Foul trouble? So what? She’d always been in foul trouble.

Last Jan. 6 at Oregon State, Leslie was guarded by Kristina Lelas, a 6-5, 240-pound player from Croatia. On rebound plays, Lelas grabbed Leslie’s forearm.

Finally, enough was enough.

As a rebound bounced away from both players, Lelas continued to hold Leslie’s forearm. Leslie jerked her arm out of Lelas’ grasp, then came back with a backhanded punch that caught Lelas on the mouth, knocking her down.

Aki Hill, Oregon State’s coach, saying Lelas lost a tooth in the incident, demanded that the Pac-10 suspend Leslie. But because the referee was in proper position and made no call, conference officials took no action.

Quickly, word went around the league:

Don’t mess with Leslie.

But then, you might expect a tough game from a player who was reared by a truck driver.

Leslie’s father died when she was 12. When she was a young teen, her mother, Christine, hocked her house and bought an 18-wheeler. Today, she hauls coconut oil from Carson to City of Industry.

Leslie’s game has also been helped by her 6-5 freshman backup, Michelle Campbell.

“In my first three years, I didn’t have any help,” Leslie said.

“(Former coach Marianne Stanley) would tell me if I was tired to just coast a bit, because there was no one on the bench. Now, I can play harder because of Michelle.

“If I have to come out for a rest, Michelle goes in there, blocks a shot and grabs a couple of rebounds.

“And I’m also stronger. I’ve been in a year-round weight-training program for two years now, and it’s paying off. I just feel like I’m able to play hard for a longer period of time.”

She also is helped by another freshman, 6-3 power forward Tina Thompson, the Pac-10’s freshman of the year.

Thompson is a player with no flair or dash, but offers hard-nose play.

Leslie averages 12.3 rebounds, Thompson 10.5. No other Trojan averages more than 3.8. Combined, they are averaging 26 points--but that figures to decrease in the tournament. USC is not a good long-range shooting team, making only 31% from beyond the three-point line. In tournament victories over Portland and George Washington, the Trojans were eight for 31.

But because of Leslie and Thompson, with almost four blocks combined per game, opponents are shooting only 36.9%.

But Leslie said this week she would like to see the team improve its three-point shooting against Virginia on Thursday.

“Teams are going to look at that (USC’s low three-point shot percentage), and just decide to pack it in tight on Tina and I,” Leslie said.

Another component to Leslie’s game comes from the man in her life, 6-7 Lorenzo Orr of the USC men’s team.

Often, a date is simply playing one-on-one in Lyon Center at noon.

“Lorenzo and I help each other,” Leslie said.

“He’s helped me stay out of foul trouble by telling me never to try and block the shot of someone I’m not guarding. And I’ve helped him by getting him to cut down on dribbling when he doesn’t have to. We break down each other’s tapes all the time.”

When Leslie came out of Inglewood’s Morningside High four years ago, few could resist calling her another Cheryl Miller. Now, Miller is her coach.

Both once scored more than 100 points in high school games. Both were USC All-Americans. Both were known for tough, intense playing styles.

But there is one difference.

Miller played on two NCAA title teams, 1983 and ‘84, by the time she was a senior. Leslie’s teams are 4-3 in the tournament and haven’t made it to the Final Four.

It’s time, she figures.

“The George Washington game did a lot for us,” Leslie said.

“None of us want the season to end now. Our team morale is high, we all have confidence in each other and the seniors have stepped up. Our experience is coming into play, and we have confidence in ourselves and each other.”