The giddy players took turns posing for photos with the regional championship trophy. Some posed alone, some in groups, some with their parents. Student managers, coaches and other staffers had done the same.
Waiting for her turn as she stood on the confetti-strewn court inside Spokane Arena, Denise Curry was in no hurry after the UCLA women’s basketball team had logged its most significant triumph since she starred for the Bruins more than 40 years ago.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Curry said, “we can wait a little longer, right?”
As the Bruins prepared for their first trip to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in the wake of a 72-65 triumph over Louisiana State on Sunday, Curry’s presence provided a bridge to their last golden era. She was a freshman starter on the 1978 team that won the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national title, four years before the NCAA became the governing body for women’s collegiate sports.
As Curry spoke with a reporter Sunday afternoon, UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond walked up and draped his arm around Curry’s shoulder.
“Set the foundation right here,” Jarmond said.
Scoring in double figures in all of her 130 games at UCLA, Curry averaged a double-double of 24.6 points and 10.1 rebounds. She became the school’s all-time leading scorer (3,198 points) and rebounder (1,310), leading the Bruins back to the semifinals of the AIAW tournament in 1979 before winning an Olympic gold medal in 1984.
Anyone wondering about her influence only needs to glance toward the top of Pauley Pavilion, where Curry’s No. 12 jersey is retired alongside former teammate Ann Meyers. They remain the only two women’s basketball players to have their jerseys retired by the school.
“She made everything easy for me,” Curry said of Meyers, who was a senior when Curry was a freshman. “I ended up leading the team in scoring and that’s because Annie set me up so well. She was one of those players who really doesn’t care who gets the credit, it’s all about the team, it’s all about team success and what makes us better as a unit and I sincerely mean that. She didn’t care as long as we were doing what we needed to do as a team.”
In that sense, Curry said it was similar to what she’s seeing now from the current group of Bruins, who visited with Curry and other alumni during a ...
