LEAVING HER DOUBTS BEHIND TULIKIHIHIFO IS GLAD SHE STAYED AT CSUN.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE  Staff Writer

It wasn't so long ago that the last jersey Ofa Tulikihihifo ever wanted to put on again was the black and red one of Cal State Northridge.

She was frustrated and fed up. Every night, she was leaving every ounce of her energy on the floor and more often than not, she walked away with another loss. In her first two years at Northridge, the Matadors lost 44 of 53 games.

After the 5-foot-10 foward led the Big West Conference in rebounding during her sophomore season in 2003-04, she had no shortage of schools offering her a way out. And Tulikihihifo (pronounced Too-leaky-he-hee-fo) almost took it, as she considered transferring.

But one thought kept gnawing at her: It wasn't so long ago that the last player anyone wanted to give a jersey to was Tulikihihifo. Except Northridge.

That's what happens when you tear every ligament in your knee after your junior year in high school. College recruiters don't exactly stand in line to offer scholarships to players coming off major knee surgery.

Northridge was the one school that never wavered.

``They were the only school that consistently recruited me,'' said Tulikihihifo, who is of Tongan descent. ``A lot of the other big schools tried to get back into the picture after I came back and had a good senior year (in high school), but it just came down to loyalty. CSUN was loyal to me the whole time.''

That loyalty was too much to ignore. She had to show the Matadors the same loyalty through the rough times, when the Matadors were struggling and Tulikihihifo looked at several other programs.

``I'd taken a trip and (verbally committed) to Oregon State,'' she said. ``But I think I did that out of anger. I shouldn't have done that. And I'm so glad now that I didn't do it. Loyalty means everything to me and my family. It wouldn't have been the right thing to do.''

That was three years ago, and she has never looked back.

As a junior in 2004-05, Tulikihihifo earned All-Big West Conference first-team honors for the third straight season, averaging a team-high 19.3 points and 9.3 rebounds. She redshirted last season with a stress fracture of her left tibia.

On Sunday, Tulikihihifo's decision to stay at Northridge proved to be rewarding. She scored 16 points in the Matadors' loss to Montana, and in the process passed Denise Sitton to become the school's all-time leading scorer.

``She absolutely deserves everything she gets,'' Northridge coach Staci Shulz said of Tulikihihifo. ``There were a lot of years where the rest of us used to just jump on her back and go as far as she could take us. But I think now we're at the point we don't have to do that anymore.

``She doesn't have to do everything for us to win. But she still has complete ownership of the program. When she talks in the locker room, everyone stops to listen to what she says.''

This is the best part for Tulikihihifo. As much as she loves the ball in her hands, as much as she loves putting the team on her back, she loves winning much more. In her junior season CSUN went 18-11, and the Matadors went 10-20 last season as she sat out with the leg injury.

This season, the Matadors are 3-8 heading into today's 2 p.m. contest against No. 20 Michigan State at the Matadome.

When Tulikihihifo first arrived at CSUN in the fall of 2002, all 12 of the players on that team were new to the program, and the Matadors went 3-24 and 6-20 her first two seasons. But CSUN has made steady progess since.

``Just seeing how much the program has grown since we started makes me feel like we've won already,'' Tulikihihifo said. ``I just hope I helped put our name back out there.''

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(1 -- color) Ofa Tulikihihifo became the CSUN women's basketball team's all-time leading scorer on Sunday.

Courtesy Adam Davis