CSUN NOTEBOOK: AS GOOD AS GONE CURRY TO DEPART CSUN TO PLAY FOR ANOTHER SCHOOL.

Byline: Chris Branam Staff Writer

More than a thousand people were screaming in Matador Gym last week, watching the Cal State Northridge-Eastern Washington men's basketball game.

It was quieter in the gym next door, where intramural basketball games were being played on three courts. Playing on court 1 was Kristi Rose, the former Palmdale High and Utah standout who transferred to CSUN last fall and will play for the Matadors next season.

And watching Rose run up and down the court was her former high school teammate, Edniesha Curry.

Curry hasn't kept a low profile since leaving the CSUN women's basketball team last month. She's been at the Matadors' women's games, and she was in the crowd for the second half of the Northridge men's game against Eastern Washington.

One local newspaper indicated last week that Curry's career at Northridge isn't finished. Curry said last Thursday she is no longer a Matador.

She is reluctant to sit down for an interview with any reporter. She said: ``I've been in the press enough.''

About CSUN, she said: ``It's just not the place for me.''

Curry, a 5-foot-6 junior guard who was a two-time All-Big Sky first- team selection, also said she is transferring to another school to play basketball after the spring semester is over. She requested her career statistics from the school's sports-information department last week.

CSUN coach Frozena Jerro said Curry is no longer a member of the team. As far as news reports to the contrary, Jerro said: ``Those aren't coming from me.''

Case closed.

--Dee-fense: CSUN point guard Markus Carr, who had nine assists in the Matadors' 79-78 win over Portland State on Saturday, was asked how the Matadors could trail the Vikings by 19 points in the second half and then come back and win.

``If I look in the paper (Sunday) and I don't see the word focus, then something must be wrong,'' Carr said.

Carr said the word ``focus'' equated to better defense.

``We finally decided to put it together and play some defense,'' he said. ``We know we've got the talent on offense, but offense wins games and defense wins championships.''

Carr won't get an argument from coach Bobby Braswell, who saw Portland State score almost at will against the Matadors - until the 7 1/2-minute mark, when CSUN started a 19-2 run.

``We were just horrible defensively,'' he said. ``Horrible. We weren't stopping drives, we weren't playing shots, we weren't rebounding. The last timeout I called before we made our run, I didn't know what to say to them, except `Guys, we can't keep trading baskets.' ''

--He's back: A familiar face was in the crowd at Matador Gym for CSUN's last two men's basketball games: Derrick Higgins.

Higgins was a first-team All-Big Sky selection as a senior last year, and he led the Matadors in scoring and steals. After graduating, he considered playing overseas.

Then Higgins severely sprained his left ankle in December while playing for a traveling pro team. Higgins, a 6-4, 200-pound guard, said he's looking at offers from teams in Venezuela and Turkey.

--To tell the truth: Mark Twain once said there are three types of lies: ``lies, damn lies and statistics.''

That was true in Northridge's men's volleyball match Friday night against 10th-ranked Loyola Marymount.

CSUN rallied to beat the Lions in five games despite a .000 hitting percentage in the third game, which Northridge lost 15-2; the 14th-ranked Matadors had 10 kills and 10 hitting errors.