Looking Out For Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 As WSU’s Top Returner, Erickson Hopes To Keep The Freshmen Happy

By all definitions, Kristin Erickson is worthy of the label Big Woman On Campus.

She’s a Washington State University senior, four-year contributor on the women’s basketball team, confident in her ability and comfortable in her surroundings.

Indeed, credentials deserving of a designer label. And one that certainly carries the claim there’s no need to look twice at the freshmen, those displaced souls whose spirits are lifted with every e-mail zapped their way by friends from back home.

But Erickson refuses to pull rank on class rank.

“I love ‘em to death,” she said. “When the freshmen come in, ever since I’ve been here, I’ll take care of them. I’ll make the transition easier for them.”

And she’s hoping her open-armed policy will transcend onto the basketball court, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. when the Cougars open their season against Colorado State at Friel Court.

Erickson, a 6-foot-2, 178-pound forward from Littleton, Colo., is the team’s only senior surrounded by three juniors, three sophomores, five freshmen and one juco transfer.

“When I was a freshman, I really didn’t get along …” said Erickson, stopping in midsentence.

She quickly glazes over her thought and continues, “I really didn’t know the seniors. The seniors and upperclassmen, they really didn’t hang out with younger people. That was fine, but it’s not what I expected when I came in.”

Now, it’s Erickson’s team. She inherits a team that is coming off a 17-12 overall, 8-10 sixth-place Pacific-10 Conference record. And her team does not have Jenni Ruff to go to.

Ruff holds the school record for most points in one game (41 vs. California in 1996), most points in a single season (685, last year) and best scoring average (23.6, last year). She is second on the WSU all-time scoring list (1,526) and now plays for the San Jose team in the newly formed American Basketball League.

“She (Ruff) had to be the main scorer. She had to lead the team,” said Erickson, whose 14.6 points per game average last year was second to Ruff’s 23.6. “There’s nothing wrong with having a one superstar, but well-balanced teams can go further.”

And then, one of her favorite topics pops up - the freshmen.

“We have two freshmen who are automatic shooters,” Erickson said.

They are 5-10 Jennifer Ludwicki and 5-10 Joanna Smith, automatic shooters and instant friends.

“None of us freshmen have cars,” said Ludwicki, who averaged 21.4 points and 7.5 rebounds and shot 72.4 percent from the free-throw line as a senior forward at Fountain Valley (Calif.) High School. “So she drives us all over the place.”

Smith, who also can be found riding shotgun in Erickson’s ‘95 Dodge Stratus, averaged 20 points and eight rebounds as a senior guard at Argyle High School in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

At the Cougars’ version of “Midnight Madness” last month, Smith nailed 9 of 12 shots in the 3-point shooting contest to defeat freshman Blake Pengelly of the men’s team.

Although Erickson is the senior statesperson, - her younger sister, Melissa, last week signed a letter-of-intent to play at UW - Washington State has plenty of players who bring experience. Yvonne Kunze, a 6-4 junior from Berlin who played in all 29 games last year, returns to the post. Jade Hyett, a 5-4 sophomore point guard from Victoria, Australia, who started in every game, is back.

The season also marks the return of 6-2 junior small forward Amy Saneholtz. The Pullman High School graduate was lost for the 1995-96 season when she suffered a season-ending knee injury two days before the opener.

A sound nucleus, but enough for the Cougars to escape from the middle of the pack in the Pacific-10 Conference? Stanford, which returns the same players and made it as far as the NCAA Tournament Final Four last year, is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. The Cardinal already beat No. 2 Alabama (now No. 4) 74-65 last Sunday.

“For us, we’ve always been one player short, maybe two, to make that step forward to be the top two or three in the Pac-10,” said WSU coach Harold Rhodes, whose best results in 14 years were ties for fourth in 1990 and 1991 and an NCAA Tournament berth in ‘91.

Rhodes doesn’t deny this year Erickson will be the designated leader.

“I think without a doubt, she’s one of the best athletes, the best basketball players on the team,” he said. “She can take you inside and post you, but she can also take you outside and hit the 3.”

Erickson has indeed shown her versatility. Now she has to show she can better control her emotions. Last season, she was called for a school-record 101 personal fouls.

“She loves to win. She hates to lose,” Rhodes said. “But that intensity can sometimes be misread.”

So the Cougars have learned to live with her fiery behavior.

“It’s kind of like Charles Barkley. They tried to basically corral his emotions and they got a different player. They recognized that sometimes you kind of have to live with a person who demonstrates emotions a little differently than you’d care to see,” Rhodes said.

During the summer, Erickson had the chance to test the limitations of Japanese officials when she represented WSU on the Pac-10 All-Star team. She, along with nine conference players, competed against Japanese teams in eight games over a two-week period.

The international experience was one that certainly merits bragging rights, especially to the impressionable freshmen. But Erickson would never have it that way.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WSU women’s basketball roster Name Pos. H W Yr. Hometown Jade Hyett G 5-4 134 Soph. Victoria, Australia Joanna Smith G 5-10 155 Fr. North Vancouver, B.C. Niki Castle G 5-8 137 Fr. San Diego Garisha Ross G 5-9 132 Fr. Tacoma Cathy McNeely G 5-9 134 Fr. Philomath, Ore. Jennifer Kerns G 5-8 151 Soph. Coeur d’Alene Kristin Erickson F 6-2 182 Sr. Littleton, Colo. Doreen Evans G 5-11 166 Jr. Salinas, Calif. Jennifer Ludwicki F 5-10 158 Fr. Fountain Valley, Calif. Laura Wilder F 5-10 154 Soph. Lucerne, Calif. Amy Saneholtz F 6-2 152 Jr. Pullman Yvonne Kunze C 6-4 210 Jr. Berlin Alicia Rubio F 5-9 185 Jr. Riverside, Calif.

Schedule (All times Pacific) Date Opponent Time Nov. 22 vs. Colorado State 4 Nov. 30 vs. Gonzaga (Spokane Arena) 6 Dec. 6-7 Gonzaga, Weber State, Fresno State at WSU Dial Classic Dec. 6 WSU vs. Fresno State 6 Dec. 7 Consolation/Final 6 and 8 Dec. 10 vs. Idaho 7 Dec. 13 vs. Portland Saints 8 Dec. 21 at Boise State Tournament (vs. Clemson 4 Dec. 22 at Boise State Tournament Dec. 28 at Weber State 6 Jan. 2 vs. UCLA 7 Jan. 4 vs. USC 7 Jan. 9 at Oregon 7 Jan. 11 at Oregon State 7 Jan. 13 vs. Southern Utah 7 Jan. 18 at Washington 7A Jan. 23 vs. California 7 Jan. 25 vs. Stanford 12:30 Jan. 30 at Arizona State 6 Feb. 1 at Arizona 6 Feb. 6 vs. Oregon State 7 Feb. 8 vs. Oregon 7 Feb 15 vs. Washington 7 Feb. 20 at Stanford 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at California noon Feb. 27 vs. Arizona 7 March 1 vs. Arizona State 7 March 6 at USC 7:30 March 8 at UCLA 2