OVERLOOKED UNDERDOG TULIKIHIHIFO HAS STRENGTH TO LIFT CSUN.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

The gym at Westchester High on Tuesday nights during the summer is hot, musty and crowded. It's an open gym for women basketball players that attracts anyone from the brightest college stars like UCLA's Nikki Blue or Connecticut's Wilnett Crockett, to former players in their 30s.

Status on the Westchester High court is determined by how you play, not what jersey you wear during the season, and there is no better line to define a player than the one you stand in waiting to get chosen for a pick-up game.

Cal State Northridge sophomore Ofa Tulikihihifo (pronounced Tu-leaky- he-he-fo) is 5-foot-9. Her team went 3-24 last season and is 6-19 this season. But more often than not, she's one of the first players chosen for pick-up games at Westchester.

``Everybody always wants to run with Ofa, she's a great player to have on your team,'' said Northridge freshman Krisztina Fuleki, who played three years in high school with Tulikihihifo at Redondo Union High and went with her to the Westchester open gym every Tuesday last summer.

``The one thing I have always noticed is how much respect people have for her ... sometimes I forget that because I play with her every day and I'm her friend, but when we were at Westchester for the open gym this summer, I remembered. Nikki Blue, Lisa Willis (UCLA), Noelle Quinn (UCLA), Wilnett Crockett, all those girls always wanted Ofa on their team.''

Said Quinn, who was recently named Pacific 10 Conference Freshman of the Year and grew up near Tulikihihifo in Torrance: ``She's 5-9 but she plays like she's 6-5 because she'll take it to the (basket) on anyone.''

But because of her size, and a severe knee injury before her senior year in high school, many schools shied away from recruiting Tulikihihifo, who was the Southern Section Div. II-AA Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2000 and an all-state player three times.

``I liked her, but she was 5-9 and I didn't know where she would fit in because she's kind of a tweaner,'' UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. ``But after playing against her the last two seasons, she showed me I was wrong. She makes up for whatever she lacks in height with her heart.''

This season, Tulikihihifo - who is of Tongan descent - is the leading rebounder in the Big West Conference (8.6 rpg), over a full rebound per game better than UC Santa Barbara's 6-8 Lindsey Taylor, a Wooden Award candidate. Tulikihihifo is also fourth in the conference in scoring (16.4 ppg) and second in steals (2.64 spg). She was a first-team all-conference selection as a freshman last season.

``Am I happy here? Yes. But am I satisfied? No,'' Tulikihihifo said. ``I've never been on a losing team before and in some ways, it's helped me grow so much as a person. ... But I just want to win and I know we can if we start hitting on all cylinders. There are times that make me really down and I want to throw in the towel but I was raised never to quit. ... And I have a lot of pride and love for this game.''

The one thing she said would make this season satisfying is if the Matadors can qualify for the conference tournament. Two weeks ago, that seemed impossible, but Northridge has won three of its past four games to give itself a chance at postseason play.

The Matadors must win tonight at Cal State Fullerton to have a chance and they need either UC Irvine, Utah State or UC Riverside to lose.

``It's really important for us to make it,'' Tulikihihifo said. ``We should be in that tournament, no question. We have to get a little taste of what that's like. Even if we lose by 50 in the first round, we have to get that taste.''

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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Ofa Tulikihihifo, the leading rebounder in the Big West Conference, is hoping to take CSUN into the playoffs.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer