WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: BENNETT STARTS OVER AT COC : FORMER SCORING MACHINE JUST WANTS TO FIT INTO NEW SYSTEM.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Staff Writer

Just fitting in on a new team seems like the bare minimum for a basketball player who averaged nearly 40 points per game her senior year in high school.

Yet Leanne Bennett, with her gaudy scoring totals at Ribet Academy, just couldn't find her niche as a scholarship player at Cal State Northridge last year.

While considering her college options, Bennett decided she would attend College of the Canyons until CSUN made its scholarship offer. After seeing a few minutes each in about four games for CSUN, she decided the jump to D-I was too difficult with her experience coming at the small high school level.

So Bennett took the opposite route of most players, going from Division I to junior college when she chose to transfer to Canyons this season. She has only one year of eligibility at COC and must make the most of the opportunity so she can hopefully return to D-I.

``It was an interesting experience; I got to see how the D-I level is and learned a lot,'' Bennett said. ``I should have gone to COC in the first place. It's difficult to go from a small school to a D-I school. I should have come here, got better, then tried to transfer, which is what I'm trying to do now.''

Bennett is not quite the scorer at COC she was in high school, although she is the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.5 points per game. She leads the Cougars (9-4) with an average of 7.5 rebounds a game and is tied for second in steals, with 23.

``She's been our most consistent (player), offensively,'' coach Greg Herrick said. ``She's already got some interest out of (four-year) schools; she could go somewhere next year if she wants to and we'll help her.''

Wherever she winds up, Bennett will likely never find herself in a position where she will be able to post the obscene numbers she did in high school. Players don't average 40 points unless they are directed to shoot almost every time down the floor.

This was the arrangement for Bennett, who played every position while at Ribet Academy. But as she had to learn, college teams at any level are more well-rounded than most high school teams.

Bennett said the pressure definitely was there while at Ribet, where she averaged about 28 points per game her junior year. Once she began scoring near the 40-point plateau the following season, Bennett said the expectations of that kind of performance got to her.

So she went about her business. She practiced a lot by playing against boys in her neighborhood and took what she learned onto the court. All of a sudden, she was averaging 40 a game.

``I've never been one to say, `I have to score this many points,' '' she said. ``I just play as hard as I can and if I only get 10 points, that's OK. If I get 25 points, that's better, but it's not heart-breaking if I don't.''

The only hearts Bennett has been breaking this season are those of COC's opponents. And if she continues her play, there is no reason why she couldn't make a return to Division I.

It would be one of the more awkward career paths that culminated in a D-I scholarship. Bennett thought there was no way she would make her high school team.

Bennett was brought up playing the piano and taking ballet lessons and never really thought of herself as a basketball player until people advised her to try out for Ribet Academy's middle-school team and began to learn the intricacies of team basketball.

She is finding herself in a similar situation now. Then, she had to adjust from a playground style of play to a team game with foul calls and rules. Now she must make the switch from her ragged offensive upbringing, where she was simply the main shooting option, to fitting into a complicated system of offense and defense.

``I didn't think I could just come in (to COC) and run the show like I did in high school, but I thought it would be easier,'' Bennett said. ``But with coach Herrick, he's like a D-I coach. It's kind of like I stayed at the D-I level.''

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PHOTO Leanne Bennett, who made the jump from Ribet Academy to Cal State Northridge, has found her niche at Canyons.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer