Corinne Costa has record-breaking season in blocks

For 36 years, Ann Meyers Drysdale held the UCLA women’s basketball record for career blocks at 101 as a guard standing at just 5 feet 9 inches.

And then along came Corinne Costa, who plays forward/center and towers over most players on the court at a height of 6 feet 4 inches.

The redshirt junior, who hasn’t even played for a full three seasons, blocked her way to history on Feb. 2, surpassing the record that Meyers Drysdale, one of just two women’s basketball players to have her jersey retired at Pauley Pavilion, had set in her four seasons as a Bruin.

Her team is so accustomed to the block party Costa brings to the court on a nightly basis that sixth-year senior forward Atonye Nyingifa and coach Cori Close hadn’t realized that the record was broken.

“Wow” was the first word out of both Nyingifa and Close’s mouths when they found out.

That’s not to say they weren’t paying attention to Costa’s accomplishments. Even Costa herself had no idea she was anywhere on the all-time list, especially with the limited number of games she has played.

“It does sound really crazy. I didn’t think I would be up on the charts that high at all,” Costa said. “I feel great that I can take over and lead in that area.”

She currently sits at 113 career blocks, a number that will surely be left in the dust, especially after Costa plays out her senior season next year.

With so many blocks, Costa has become almost numb to the result. In a game, she doesn’t keep track or realize how many blocks she has.

Someone could tell her that she blocked five shots, but Costa would think she only had one.

“She’s got a gift. Sometimes you just have a knack for something,” Close said. “A lot of people can only block shots with one hand. She blocks with both hands.”

Even after sitting out the first part of the season with a sprained knee, Costa is zoning in on a different record. In 18 games, she’s had 47 blocks.

Ahead of Costa this season on the single-season record list are just two names: Costa herself, who blocked 50 shots in 29 games two seasons ago, and Necie Thompson, who had 53 blocks in 36 games in 1980-1981 and is tied with Meyers Drysdale with 101 career blocks.

UCLA has two regular season games and then the Pac-12 tournament remaining in its season, so there’s a guaranteed three games for Costa to try and break that record.

When Nyingifa learned how close Costa was to yet another record, Nyingifa couldn’t help but cheer on her teammate.

“Oh my gosh, she’s definitely going to make it,” Nyingifa said.

Even if Costa falls short, this season has been a validation of sorts for the hard work she has had to put in to return from a concussion suffered last year that took her out for the season.

To Costa, holding the all-time school record makes her injuries look like nothing.

“If there’s one person who’s made the biggest 180-turn over the last year, it is Corinne Costa,” Close said. “She has really rounded the corner, and I look forward to her making even bigger steps. She could put that record a long ways out of reach for anyone coming after her.”

In one season, Costa has the opportunity to break not only the 36-year all-time record, but also the 33-year single-season record.

If she does, there’ll be a good chance that she doesn’t realize it in the moment. It’ll feel like just another block.