Tall, Talented and Tenacious : Cal State’s Lupe Quintana Has Come a Long Way Under New Coach

When center Lupe Quintana of Cal State Los Angeles played basketball in high school, she admits she was just average.

“I really didn’t know much about basketball but since I was one of the tallest girls I got by a lot on my size,” the 21-year-old Golden Eagle junior recalled.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that, despite making all-league at Lincoln High, the 6-0 Quintana was not sought after by college scouts.

“I was not recruited hard at all, in fact, the only school that looked at me was (Cal State) Northridge,” she said. “Their coach said they’d be glad to have me but they weren’t offering me a scholarship.”

That made it easier for Quintana to decide to attend nearby Cal State L.A. and try out for the team as a walk-on.

But after making the team as a freshman, Quintana quit before the first game because she didn’t think she was good enough to play.

“It was a large squad and I wasn’t getting much practice time so I decided to quit,” she said. “I was just a freshman and I just figured it would be worse in game situations.”

Her situation took a dramatic swing when Fran Buckless was named coach after the season and former assistant Marcia Murota persuaded Quintana to take another shot at playing.

“I just thought my career was over but she (Murota) had a lot of confidence in me and she encouraged me to come back,” Quintana said. “Once she asked me back I felt comfortable being that we had a new coach and knowing that I would get some playing time felt good.”

Added Buckless: “She said she’d come out if I taught her, and I said, ‘You have a deal.’ ”

Quintana has steadily improved ever since.

As a sophomore, but still with freshman eligibility, it did not take her long to develop into an outstanding rebounder. Quintana wound up leading the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with a 9.9 average, although she says it wasn’t because she was such a good rebounder.

“I never really thought about (rebounding), it just happened,” she said. “I was kind of shaky about my offensive skills so I just decided to grab all the basketballs I could and get so I could keep playing.”

Buckless said Quintana did not have the best offensive skills when she first started playing for her.

“She was limited in what she could do,” Buckless said. “She could shoot close to the basket but was lacking in other areas. I think she had some potential but we really looked at her as a project at this level.”

However, the coach also noticed that Quintana played with a tenacious approach to the game that has become her trademark on the court.

“What I recognized the most about Lupe was she became persistent and perhaps the best word is relentless about improving,” Buckless said. “We were a weak team that first year yet Lupe ended up leading the conference in rebounding, which is a real tribute to her.”

Quintana said that by the end of her sophomore year, when she averaged 10 points and a conference-leading 12 rebounds and was named to the All-CCAA team, she had become a more complete player.

Indeed, her offense has picked up. This year, Quintana averaged 15.1 points, good for fifth in the CCAA, and a conference-high 11 rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles to a 14-12 record in the regular season and their first ever berth in the conference post-season tournament.

Cal State L.A. faces second-seeded Northridge (14-12) in its opener at 6 tonight at Bakersfield Civic Auditorium. Cal Poly Pomona (24-3) is the heavy favorite.

Buckless said Quintana’s improvement is a testimony to her dedication to hard work.

“She’s not afraid to ask questions and works very hard at improving the things that she is not strong at,” she said. “She wants to get better and better. I think the players on the team notice that and she’s very much respected by other players in the league.”

“It says a lot for her determination,” Buckless said. “She can find a way to get to the boards. In a game, all I have to do sometimes is remind her and she really goes after it.”

That determination is a good reason why Quintana has already become the school’s all-time leader in rebounds with 824 and is fourth all-time in the CCAA.

Quintana said the records are nice but she doesn’t want to overplay their importance.

“Since I already have the records, I’ll work hard to keep them,” she said. “They’re important to me but I just really want to concentrate on playing my best and continuing my success.”

She said she is more excited about having the opportunity to play in the CCAA post-season tournament. The Golden Eagles had a 19-9 record last year and would have qualified for the tournament except that they had already played the NCAA Division II limit of 28 games.

“This year we’re real excited to go to the tournament and last year we were really disappointed about what happened but we knew we just had to forget about it,” Quintana said.

The Golden Eagles struggled early in the conference season, losing five of their first six games, only to win five of their final six CCAA games to finish third and qualify.

“At first we were kind of shaky and we kept losing,” Quintana said. “But we knew that if we played hard in the next round we could make it.”

Come to think of it, that is how it has been for Quintana at Cal State L.A. And like the rest of her team, Quintana is not the least bit shaky anymore.