Newbury Park girls’ basketball team creating matchup problems
Panther players big and quick
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers TEAM LEADER—Newbury Park guard Kavita Goss, pictured above and below, leads the Panthers in points, assists, steals and is tied for the team lead in rebounds. She’s Newbury Park’s only senior and is erving as team captain this year. Goss has already accepted a scholarship to play for Loyola Marymount.

Marmonte League opponents will be looking up at the Newbury Park girls’ basketball team this season. And it’ll have little to do with the league’s standings.

With four players on the Panthers’ roster standing 6-0 or taller, NPHS is easily the biggest squad in the Marmonte. Whether or not Newbury Park’s imposing size advantage translates into league success remains to be seen.

One thing that’s certain, however, is that the Panthers will utilize their height advantage—psychologically and physically—prior to and during their games.

“We have a lot of height on our team,” junior guard Allison Turley said. “When we played Calabasas last week, almost our whole team was taller than their team. It helps us a lot. It’s a big intimidation factor.”

Turley is one of five varsity players who return from last year’s squad that made it to the semifinals of the Division IIIAA playoffs. Since the conclusion of last season, NPHS has been elevated to Division IIA. The move means the Panthers will play against larger schools should they advance to the postseason in February.

“There are some different teams in our league now, and some of the other teams that were in our division have moved up, too,” head coach Nori Parvin said. “We just have to get the job done in practice. You play like you practice and we have to be focused when the game starts.”

Parvin is entering her 32nd season at the school.

The Newbury Park players said they thoroughly enjoy having Parvin as their coach and leader.

“She’s very laid back, very laid back,” junior guard Chelsea Davis said of her coach. “And she’s so positive in every way, no matter what. She’s the coach, so she can still yell and everything. But she’s definitely a positive coach and no matter what she’ll try and keep your spirit up.”

Newbury Park’s record stood at 6-4 prior to Wednesday night’s game in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. The Panthers are 1-0 in the Marmonte following a 61-46 victory over Calabasas on Dec. 12. The game was the league opener for both schools.

Despite the Panthers’ wealth of returning players, guard Kavita Goss is the team’s lone senior. Vaiolini Gago, a guard on last year’s team, was expected to form a senior tandem with Goss, but Gago moved to Las Vegas before the season started.

Goss was Newbury Park’s leading scorer in 2004-05. She’s a four-year varsity letterman and the Panther captain this year. Goss has already accepted a scholarship to play for Loyola Marymount next season.

Goss said being a team leader’s a role she’s learned to embrace.

“I’ve pretty much been a leader on the team since my sophomore year,” Goss said. “I’ve just never had the title of captain before. It’s kind of a new thing for me.”

Turley, Goss, Davis, junior Stephanie McBride and sophomore Torri Galaviz have seen the majority of their playing time at guard.

Freshman Doris ParkSherman, sophomore Sarah Godfrey, and juniors Milli Dimitrova, Nikki Graham and Arlene Harris will continue to patrol the paint at the forward and center positions for the Panthers.

Harris, who’s 6-foot-1, played point guard during a few of the team’s preseason tournaments because of Panther early-season injuries. She said it was nice to add versatility to her overall game, but admitted moving from center to guard was a challenge.

“Everybody on our team plays most of the positions,” Harris said. “We don’t really favor playing people just in the post or just at guard. Everybody needs to know every position.”

Parvin said the first 10 preseason games this season have gone about as she’d expected, adding that her team has lost to some stiff competition thus far, including a one-point setback to Santa Monica in the Moorpark Tip-Off Classic and a seven-point loss to perennial powerhouse Ventura in the Buena-Kiwanis Tournament.

The NPHS offense still has some rust to shake off before league play gets underway in earnest during the first week of January, the coach said, but the Panther defense must continue to work hard every minute on the floor. Parvin said she understands it’ll take time for the offense to gel together, but she won’t accept anything but 100 percent effort on the defensive end.

The coach said she also wants her team to have fun together and enjoy the remainder of the season.

“Once you step in the gym, you’ve got to make sure the kids are having fun,” Parvin said. “The next level is the business aspect of it. This is where you teach them the fundamentals— you’ve got that word fun in there. They’ve got to have fun while they’re in high school.”