Moorpark tames the Panthers
Newbury Park's 27-game league winning streak over
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers HACKED IN THE ACT- Moorpark's Laura Barker gets collared by Newbury Park's Sarah Godfrey on Wednesday night.

With only three games left in the regular season, the Moorpark High girls' basketball team inched a little closer to first place on Wednesday night when it beat Newbury Park at home 68-43.

The loss was the Panthers' first in Marmonte League play in nearly two years, and ended their current eight-game winning streak overall.

With the victory, Moorpark moved to within one game of the first-place Panthers with a record of 9-2. NPHS' Marmonte League record is now 10-1.

Moorpark lost to Newbury Park earlier this year 60-52. But the second time around the Musketeers made the necessary adjustments.

"The first time we played each other we learned that we needed to play harder and more aggressive for the entire game if we wanted to win," Moorpark head coach Adam Wohlstattar said.

"Last time we only did that for three quarters. If you want to beat a team as good as Newbury Park, you have to do that for four (quarters). Tonight we did."

Moorpark received productive scoring from two of its best players, seniors Tiffany Hurd and Laura Barker. Hurd finished the contest with a gamehigh 33 points, with 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter. Barker contributed 18 points, eight of those coming in the final quarter as well.

"I just knew before the game even started in warm-ups that my shot felt good and was falling," Hurd said.

When both Hurd and Barker are on , they're tough for a defense to guard, the coach said.

"It's kind of a pick your poison when those two are on," Wohlstattar said. "If you take away the shot of one of those two, the other one will just hurt you more."

Moorpark and Newbury stayed close in the first quarter with the Musketeers ahead 1712. Newbury Park was within four points at 20-16 with six minutes left in the second quarter, but that's as close as the Panthers would get.

Moorpark rallied for a 13-0 run to end the first half, putting the Musketeers up 33-16. The run was sparked by nine points by Hurd, including three straight scoring trips down the floor.

While Hurd was scoring the majority of the points, the entire team was playing suffocating defense.

"You can have on-nights and off-nights with offense, but the one thing that must always be on for you to win is defense," Barker said. "Coach stressed the importance of defense to us all week and how everyone would have to put in that extra little effort in order to win. I think we accomplished that tonight, and that's why we won."

Both Moorpark and Newbury Park have three games remaining in league play. Moorpark plays tonight at Calabasas while Newbury Park hosts Simi Valley. Both games are slated for 7 p.m.