Cougs Ruff’n Ready Washington State Women Open Season In Honolulu

In recent years, Washington State’s women’s basketball program has been defined by injury.

Blown knees, degenerative hips, shoulders, ankles, wrists. When it comes to hurt, the Cougars have experienced it all.

Yet here comes Jenni Ruff riding a remarkable streak of 66 consecutive starts into the 1995-96 season, which opens Nov. 24 at the Wahine Classic in Honolulu.

It seems inconceivable that Ruff, a slightly built, 5-foot-10 senior forward, should emerge as her team’s model of durability. But since stepping on the WSU campus in the fall of 1992, she has not so much as tweaked an ankle.

When asked the secret to avoiding the injury bug that has bitten so many of her teammates, Ruff shrugged and said, “Just lucky, I guess.”

But WSU coach Harold Rhodes claims there is more to it.

“A lot of it has to do with the fact that she stays in basketball condition year-round,” he explained. “The ones who end up suffering the most injuries are usually those who take three or four months off in the summer, stop playing and just kind of relax.

“But Jenni is one you never have to say ‘Giddy-up’ to. She’s always working hard and always looking to play, and that, I think, has been the reason why she’s been do durable.”

Ruff admits she has become much more dedicated to the weight room since her days as a prep basketball, volleyball and softball standout at tiny Mossyrock High School, where she twice led her team to the State B Tournament.

“Hitting the weights helped me a lot because I was quite a lightweight when I came in,” said Ruff, who has managed to get her weight up to 139 pounds. “My upper body is a lot stronger and when I go up for shots and get hit, I can tell.

“It’s actually kind of nice to see muscles on your arms and legs where they’ve never been before.”

Ruff has coupled her recent size and strength gains with the natural athletic ability she brought from home and developed into one of the most versatile players in the Pacific-10 Conference.

She enters her senior season ranked No. 12 on WSU’s career scoring list with 841 points and No. 4 in assists with 291.

Last year, Ruff averaged a team-high 14.8 points per game as the Cougars went 16-11 to snap a string of three consecutive losing seasons. She was also Rhodes’ third-leading rebounder with 158 and handed out 121 assists, just one fewer than senior point guard Susie Jarosch.

Rhodes said maturity is the reason behind Ruff’s improved numbers.

“She’s gotten stronger over the years,” he said, “and last year she finally settled her game down and stopped trying to do everything.

“Jenni sometimes wants to rebound, outlet to herself and take it up the court, set it up for herself and then take the shot - which is trying to do too much. She’s learning now how to get in the flow of the game and allow her teammates to do some things to help get her open.”

And Rhodes is convinced that Ruff, one of four returning seniors, will be even more productive this year as she settles in permanently to the No. 3, or small forward, role.

As a freshman and sophomore, Ruff was forced into spot duty at the point because of injuries to teammates. It wasn’t the kind of baptism Rhodes had planned, and it probably hurt her development.

“She came in the year Kristal Stahl, Janel Benton and Andrea Wood all went down, so the opportunity was there to step in as a starter,” Rhodes recalled. “We felt all through the recruiting process she would start for us (as a true freshman), but we had hoped she could step in with a group of junior and seniors who would allow her to grow and mature without suffering the growing pains.

“Obviously, things didn’t work out that way.”

Ruff and classmate Kelly Kronberger, a 5-foot-8 shooting guard, were both rushed into starting roles that year as the Cougars finished 7-20 overall and 3-15 in the Pac-10. Both have been key players since.

Ruff, after struggling at the point, moved to the wing last year after Jarosch recovered from a serious knee injury.

It looked like she might be headed back there again this season because of Jarosch’s graduation, but Rhodes went out and recruited a pair of freshmen - one a 21-year-old from Victoria, Australia - to play point.

And Ruff is ecstatic.

“I was real thankful for that,” she said about the arrival of Jade Hyett, the Aussie, and Coeur d’Alene freshman Jennifer Kerns, “because the point guard is your team, and coming into your senior year and losing your point guard is kind of scary.

“Bringing freshmen in to run a team of juniors and seniors is a big adjustment. It takes someone with a lot of skill and confidence to come in and run it right, but I think both of our point guards have the ability to do that.

“I don’t mind running the point, myself, but at this point of my career I have set a lot of goals for myself and they’re all at the three position.”

Rhodes said he plans to start Hyett at the point, calling her one of the calmest and most intelligent players he has coached.

“She’s the pilot you want at the controls when you’re having engine trouble,” Rhodes said, “because there’s no panic. Everything she does is calmly calculated.

“And as the team grows accustomed to her and that chemistry builds, I think other people will realize that we have a very special person at that position.”

Kronberger and Ruff will start at the wings, with juniors Kristin Erickson and Amy Saneholtz down low.

The first person off the bench will be Julie Wight, a slender 6-1 junior with excellent shooting range, and Rhodes also plans on getting quality minutes from 6-4 post player Yvonne Kunze, a sophomore from Berlin; Nikki Whaley, a 5-9 senior wing, and Kerns.

“Those are my top nine and they’re all pretty solid,” Rhodes said, adding that he remembers having trouble not long ago finding enough healthy players to name even a top five.

“I guess having a top-five record is good if you’re a singer, but having only a top-five when you’re a basketball coach isn’t.”

Fortunately for Rhodes, Jenny Ruff has always been there as one of his top-whatevers.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Washington State University The roster and schedule of the WSU women’s basketball team, 16-11 overall last season, 9-9 in the Pacific-10 Conference.

Rosters Name Ht Position Year Hometown Jade Hyett 5-4 Guard Freshman Boronia, Australia Julie Wight 6-1 Forward Junior West Springfield, Va. Kelli Kronberger 5-8 Guard Senior Prineville, Ore. Jenni Ruff 5-10 Guard/for Senior Mossyrock Felesia Fode 5-3 Guard Freshman Grants Pass, Ore. Jen Kerns 5-7 Guard Freshman Coeur d’Alene Kristin Erickson 6-2 Forward Junior Littleton, Colo. Doreen Evans 5-11 Forward Sophomore Salinas, Calif. Laura Wilder 5-10 Forward Freshman Lucerne, Calif. Amy Saneholtz 6-2 Forward Junior Pullman Nikki Whaley 5-9 Guard Senior Madisonville, Tex. Yvonne Kunze 6-4 Center Sophomore Berlin, Germany Adrienne Keith 6-4 Center Senior Baltimore, Md.

Schedule Nov. 24 vs. Hawaii at Wahine Classic in Honolulu 5:45 p.m. Nov. 25 at Wahine Classic TBA Nov. 26 at Wahine Classic TBA Dec. 1 vs. Southeast Missouri State at Dial Classic 6 p.m Dec. 2 vs. Oral Roberts or Western Illinois at Dial Classic 6 or 8 p.m. Dec. 8 at Boise State 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Idaho 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Eastern Washington 7 p.m. Dec. 29 vs. TBA at Houston Tournament TBA Dec. 30 vs. TBA at Houston Tournament TBA Jan. 5 at UCLA 7 p.m. Jan. 7 at USC 2 p.m. Jan. 11 vs. Oregon 7 p.m. Jan. 13 vs. Oregon State 7 p.m. Jan. 15 at Oral Roberts 6 p.m. Jan. 20 vs. Washington 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at California 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at Stanford 7 p.m. Feb. 1 vs. Arizona State 7 p.m. Feb. 3 vs. Arizona 12:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Oregon State 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at Oregon 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Washington 7 p.m. Feb. 22 vs. Stanford 7 p.m. Feb. 24 vs. California 12:30 p.m. Feb. 29 at Arizona 7 p.m. March 2 at Arizona State 2 p.m. March 7 vs. USC 7 p.m. March 9 vs. UCLA 2 p.m.