Blocking her way into history

FORT WORTH, Texas — When Sandora Irvin thinks back on the childhood basketball games with the boys in the park, one thing sticks in her head:

“All I did was block their shots,” Irvin said. “That was the fun part for me.”

It still is for Irvin, a 6-foot-3 senior at TCU whose uncle Michael is an NFL Hall of Fame finalist.

Irvin set an NCAA Division I record with 16 blocked shots — along with 20 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five steals — while playing 32 minutes in her last game against UAB. She needs just 17 more blocks over the last 11 regular-season games to break the career mark of 428.

As a lanky preteen blocking the boys’ shots in Florida, Irvin didn’t worry about scoring points. And she wasn’t interested in organized basketball.

“I didn’t want to play basketball, but I guess I was really tall in middle school,” she said. “The coach just kept hounding me and hounding me, so I went out and played, and I didn’t know anything.”

By eighth grade, Irvin had received her first recruiting letter from a college coach. She is now one of the best women’s players in the country, already TCU’s career scoring leader (1,626 points) and Conference USA’s best rebounder (1,215).

“She’s a tough matchup because she is so versatile,” said Georgia coach Andy Landers, who watched Irvin score 28 points, grab 15 rebounds and block eight shots against his team last month. “You don’t see many people like that.”

Or many performances like Irvin had Sunday in a 75-34 win over UAB.

She had the first triple-double in school history and broke the Division I record of 15 blocks set by Amy Lundquist of Loyola Marymount in 1992. The last three blocks came in a 77-second span, and she had just three turnovers in the game.

“She was controlling her area. … I’ve never seen as dominating a performance like that,” TCU coach Jeff Mittie said.

“There are some good players out there, but no one puts up numbers like this,” teammate Natasha Lacy said. “This is like a Shaq night.”

Genia Miller set the NCAA career blocks record at Cal State Fullerton from 1987-91.

A huge wingspan helps, but Irvin has a method to blocking shots, which she believes is the women’s equivalent to men dunking.

“I just kind of lay back and let (opponents) make a move and then try to block it,” she said. “I try to wait until they release the ball so I don’t get a foul called.”

Irvin has been a centerpiece for fifth-year coach Mittie, whose Lady Frogs (13-5) and are on track for their fifth straight 20-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Lady Frogs won 25 games and got to their first NCAA Tournament in Mittie’s first season. Then Irvin signed.

“When we set out to build this program, we wanted to develop a high level of consistency,” Mittie said. “We didn’t want to have a season, we wanted to have a program. She’s been a difference-maker all four years here. Now when you talk about recruiting, we have added more pieces to the puzzle, so our program has been able to maintain a level of consistency.”