WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : Stanford’s Folkl Again Flying High

Stanford’s Kristin Folkl has been dunking basketballs since she was a high school sophomore and is the odds-on pick to be the next woman to do it in an NCAA game. Normally, she can leap and put her forearm on the rim.

But a few weeks ago, the 6-foot-2 Stanford reserve noticed in workouts she could put only her wrist on the rim.

“Coach, I’ve lost my springs; I don’t know what’s the matter,” she told Tara VanDerveer.

After trainers were consulted, it was determined Folkl’s legs needed rest. After all, she had spent the summer with the U.S. women’s volleyball team at the Goodwill Games, then the fall with the Stanford volleyball team.

And just when rest was prescribed, Folkl sprained an ankle and sat out 10 days. When she resumed practice, her forearm was back on the rim.

“Coach, my springs are back,” she told VanDerveer.

And all is well again in Palo Alto, home of the 19-2 Cardinal, 10-1 in the Pacific 10 and gunning for a third national championship.

Stanford, 213-32 under VanDerveer since 1987-88, plays at USC on Thursday and at UCLA on Saturday. The Cardinal probably will return for the NCAA West Regionals at UCLA, March 23 and 25.

It’s VanDerveer’s deepest team, and, in Folkl, Stanford has a player some are calling the “recruit of the decade.” The only problem is that no one’s sure if her game is basketball or volleyball. She’s considered an Olympic-level athlete in both.

“She has great hands, she’s a good shooter with range, a great passer and ballhandler, and she jumps out of the gym,” VanDerveer said. “She plays six inches higher than her teammates. The only woman I ever saw with this kind of hang time is Cheryl Miller.”

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VanDerveer may not be at Stanford next season. She’s a candidate to become the 1996 women’s Olympic team coach, a one-year, full-time post.

USA Basketball will announce its choice for coach before the April 1-2 women’s Final Four at Minneapolis. All those interviewed have been cleared for a year’s leave by their universities.

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Lisa Leslie, USC’s national player of the year last season, is back in town after her first season of pro basketball with a Sicilian team, Sicilgesso.

She played in the 14-team first-division Italian League. Playing with another former Trojan, Cynthia Cooper, Leslie’s team was picked for the cellar but was in the running for a playoff berth when she injured a knee and came home with two weeks remaining in the season.

Bruce Levy, the New York agent who placed her in Italy, said Leslie earned a “low six-figures” salary her first year.

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Each year, women’s basketball attendance climbs. Tennessee leads the nation with an average home crowd of 9,800, and had a high of 16,632 against Vanderbilt.

No. 1-ranked Connecticut is second at 7,808.

Stanford leads the Pac-10 at 5,024 per game, which tops three Pac-10 men’s programs, including Stanford’s.

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The University of San Francisco is 17-4, 9-1 in the West Coast Conference, and plays at Pepperdine on Friday and at Loyola on Saturday. The Lady Dons have won nine in a row.

USF is coached by a married couple, Bill Nepfel and Mary Hile-Nepfel. Their first-year assistant is Molly Goodenbour, Stanford’s 1992 most valuable player at the Final Four in Los Angeles.