Porter Provides Future Hope for UCLA

From out of the gloom of a season on pace for perhaps 25 defeats, there arrives at UCLA a shining star, portending brighter days for the women’s basketball program.

Her name is Kristee Porter and she evokes memories of another ultra-talented Bruin volleyball-basketball standout, Natalie Williams.

Williams, class of ‘94, was a two-sport phenom who nearly made the 1996 Olympic volleyball team, then moved on to an all-star basketball career in the ABL and WNBA.

Enter Porter, a three-sport athlete who shows flashes but not yet the consistency of Williams as her team limps through a 3-19 season, cellar dwellers in the Pacific 10 Conference.

“She’s day-to-day,” Coach Kathy Olivier says of the 6-foot sophomore, who can put her fingertips 10 feet 6 inches off the ground on the backboard.

“Last Friday, when we scrimmaged a men’s team, she was hitting everything she put up. Then against USC Saturday, she was terrible [making five of 14 shots and one of five free throws]. She’s an inconsistent shooter now and that comes from being away from basketball too long [while triple-jumping and playing volleyball].

“Does she have the tools to play in the WNBA? Yes. Does she have the fundamentals to do it now? No. But with her talent, she can get there.”

Comparisons to Williams aren’t useful, Olivier said.

“Natalie is much more physically powerful than Kristee--Kristee’s a different kind of athlete.”

The 6-foot Williams is still the Pac-10’s all-time rebound leader, at 12.8 a game. And nothing has changed. Last summer, she led the WNBA in rebounding at 11.6 a game.

Porter, who had a career-high 25 points in a loss to Arizona on Thursday, is averaging about 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Andy Banachowski, UCLA’s longtime women’s volleyball coach, confirms that Porter has out-of-this-world volleyball skills. Volleyball magazine recently named her its national player of the year. Only one player in NCAA history reached 1,000 kills faster.

“She has the tools to be the best player who ever played,” he said.

“That’s how talented she is. A lot of people say Cuba’s Maria Luis was the greatest outside hitter ever, but she’s just 5-8, 5-9. Kristee is 6 feet and really gets up in the air--she sees angles no one else can.”

But can a world-class volleyball player earn a living in her sport after college?

“There is no pro indoor volleyball league [in the United States] and I know of none on the horizon,” Banachowski said.

Which brings us to track and field. As if she didn’t have enough to do, Porter placed third in the triple jump, going 41 feet 9 inches last spring at the Pac-10 meet. As a Texas high schooler, she once ran 200 meters in 24.2 seconds.

This year, after basketball, she will work with UCLA’s women’s new jump coach, Al Joyner.

“Because of her other sports, we don’t get enough time to work with Kristee, but I will tell you that if she were a full-time track athlete, she could make an Olympic team,” said Jeannette Bolden, women’s track coach.

“Even as it is, I think a good goal for her would be the NCAA women’s triple jump record, which is 46-8. For Kristee, that would mean just one hard track season of quality work.”

Porter comes from a large family of mostly nonathletes. She grew up in Tyler, Texas, about 100 miles from Dallas.

“I have three brothers and three sisters and I’m the only one who did much in sports,” she said.

“Maybe everyone had too many chores. My dad is a school bus driver and my mom is a housewife.”

How does a three-sport NCAA athlete find time to study?

“It’s hard, but I manage,” she said. “You have to be organized to find study time. I’m a psychology major and I get Bs and Cs.

“The transition from one sport to another is difficult--using different muscles, different timing. I do think about one day playing in the WNBA, but I’m a long way from there now. I get so frustrated at my mistakes. It’s just willpower and determination-I’ll get there.”

STILES IN STYLE

The hottest women’s basketball ticket in America should be one of 9,100 at Springfield, Mo., on or about March 3. That’s when Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State, based on her current scoring average of 30.5 points, figures to break the NCAA all-time record of 3,122 points set by Patricia Hoskins of Mississippi Valley State in 1989.

Stiles has 3,009 points and is fifth on the list, nine points behind USC’s Cheryl Miller, who scored 3,018. Seven points after that and she’ll catch runner-up Chamique Holdsclaw at 3,025.

Thanks to Stiles, who has scored 38 points or more seven times, Southwest Missouri State has sold out its last three games.