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SPOKANE, Wash. — 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 dinner earlier this season before their Big Ten opener.
“There’s lots of depth, great players, great people,” Curry said, “and you’ve got kids who could start pretty much any place else in the country that have to come off the bench, but again, your contribution, whatever it is — some days it’s going to be this, some days it’s going to be that, but you’ve got to be ready to go, and that’s the strength of this team — their selflessness and their depth and the way they come together.”
UCLA coach Cori Close said Meyers and Curry text her before almost every game, providing invaluable support for someone working for a breakthrough like this after her six previous trips to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament with the Bruins ended in defeat.
“We are so grateful for people like Annie and Denise,” Close said. “They could have said, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are so spoiled, and you know, like, if you only knew what we had to do.’ And that isn’t the case. They have celebrated every step, they have been behind us, they have donated, they have showed up, they have believed in our mission.
“And I don’t appreciate them as much today as I do on the darkest days. That’s when they showed up in the trenches with me and said, ‘Hey, hang in there. We believe in what you’re doing and we’re behind you 100%.’ Those are the times I’ll never forget.”
Women’s college basketball was a far different entity back in Curry’s day. Before the Bruins broke through to win the 1978 title on their home court, the game was dominated by smaller schools. The previous six titles had been won by Immaculata and Delta State.
With Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice leading the way, UCLA gets revenge over LSU and advances to the Final Four for the first time in a 72-65 win.
UCLA’s 90-74 victory over Maryland under coach Billie Moore was not shown on live television, NBC broadcasting a segment of the game a day later as part of its “Sportsworld” show.
But there were already signs of growth in the game. The Pauley Pavilion crowd of 9,351 that showed up to see UCLA beat the Terrapins was a record for the Bruins on their home court. Curry played a critical role in that victory, making a 16-foot jumper late in the first half to end Maryland’s 12-0 run that had pulled the Terrapins to within a point. She finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Two days earlier, former NBA great Wilt Chamberlain had shown up to watch the semifinals inside Pauley Pavilion, signaling his appreciation for the women’s game.
“These girls can play,” Chamberlain told the Washington Post’s Dave Kindred. “This is as good as watching the Lakers. If I’m going to watch the Lakers, I’ll watch this.”
It could have been considered the start of an upward trajectory that led to more viewers for the women’s national championship game a year ago than the men’s title game. Curry, 65, said she’s grateful for the explosion in popularity of women’s sports.
“It’s phenomenal,” Curry said. “I am so excited for what’s happening now. I mean, it took a long time coming — I wish it had happened a little bit sooner, but I’m so appreciative for what’s happening now, so thankful for it, so happy that everybody else gets the benefit of it and I think it’s going to continue to grow.
Cori Close credits much of the success she has had as the winningest coach in UCLA women’s basketball history to the lessons she learned from John Wooden.
“We’re not at the top yet, and I love it for everybody and I love it for young boys and young men and older men too to be part of this and help push us forward because I think that’s really important — it’s not just girls and women, it’s everybody pushing this forward.”
A season ticket-holder who attends every home game, Curry said she’s grateful that she’s been allowed to travel with the team in recent postseasons. She’s also part of a group of contemporaries who are regulars at Pauley Pavilion that includes Debbie Willie Haliday, Mary Hegarty, Dora Dome and Meyers when her schedule allows.
Curry’s schedule added a stop this week. She’ll be accompanying the Bruins to Tampa, Fla., for their first appearance in a national semifinal since Curry was a sophomore.
“I’m just so proud,” Curry said. “But mostly, I’m just happy for them. I know how much work it is, I know how hard it is to do something like this, and they’ve done it — and they have more to come, but they’ve taken that big step.”
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