CSUN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: KING'S ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDEST CSUN PLAYER DEMURE -- UNTIL SHE STEPS ON COURT.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE 

Staff Writer

You expect a lot of things before you meet LaJoyce King.

You expect her to be big and bad with a little snarl and bark.

The Cal State Northridge women's basketball roster claims she's 5-foot- 10, but in women's basketball they don't list weights so you start picturing a 200-pounder with thick shoulders and flying elbows.

After all, this is a player who pulled down 21 rebounds in a game this year and four times has grabbed more than 15. She averages a double-double. You don't get to be that kind of rebounder without some mean and nasty to you.

Then King walks in the door.

"Hello," she whispers.

That's right, whispers.

There's soft-spoken and then there's LaJoyce King. We're talking church- mouse quiet.

And forget about the big and bad, too.

"She's probably a size-zero-minus, if there is such a thing," CSUN coach Staci Schulz said. "As far as strength-to-weight ratio though, she's off the charts."

The Matadors are leaving for the Big West Conference Tournament in Anaheim later in the day, so King is dressed in travel sweats, but her hair is neatly pulled back, she's wearing hoop earings and obviously found time to put a little make-up on this morning.

This is LaJoyce King?

This is LaJoyce King!

On the court, the CSUN senior has got all the mean and snarling you envision for such a tenacious rebounder.

She's plays like she'll die if she doesn't get every single rebound or loose ball within five feet of her.

Of the court, she's a girly girl. A fashion design and merchandising double-major who reads Vogue and sews dresses. Her favorite show? "Project Runway" of course.

"I don't what I'd call myself. Maybe a 'junk player,'" she joked. "That sounds bad, but that's pretty much it. I just get the rebounds, play defense, go my hardest and hustle."

CSUN would be nowhere without her. The No. 4-seeded Matadors (13-15, 9-5) open the conference tournament against No. 5 seed Cal State Fulllerton this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center. King led the team in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (11.2rpg) during conference play. She ranks 10th in the nation for rebounding (10.7 rpg).

"She's been our most consistent player this year," Schulz said. "I'm glad she's finally getting recognition for that."

Earlier this week, King was honored as a first-team all-conference selection. She also won the conference's Best Hustle Award.

She deserves all of those awards, but players like King don't often get individual honors.

She's the kind of player that gets under your skin. The kind of player who embarasses big, bulky post players by sliding around their box-outs and gives point guards nightmares by trapping them along the sidelines. She takes charges and fights for loose balls, she dives on the floor and jumps into the stands to save the ball.

"A lot of people say I should wear knee pads or something, but that's kind of the fun of it," she said. "To see all my scars."

She's always been this kind of player, mostly out of necessity.

King played her high school ball at perennial power Lynwood High, alongside stars like Sade Wiley Gatewood (Tennessee/Maryland) and Sade Cunningham (UNLV).

In order to get on the court, she had to be a role player. And the role Lynwood had an opening for was at the "Do All the Little Things" spot.

"From the start, I just had to do the little things, the dirty work just to get on the court," she said. "I just kept doing it I guess."

Ironic, huh? The girly girl who mastered the art of doing the dirty work.

And yeah, she's quiet. So quiet that sometimes you have to just nod your head and pretend you heard what she just said.

Then again, what's left to say? Her play has done plenty of talking.

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Cal State Northridge's LaJoyce King, right, was named to the All-Big West first team, thanks in part to averaging 15.6 points and 11.2 rebounds this season.

Photo courtesy of CSUN