Coyotes can hold their heads high
Despite injuries, the Calabasas girls' basketball team can still reach double figures in the win column
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers HAVING A BLAST- Calabasas' Ashley Oliver, right, is ready for Danielle Ploussard to take a shot during Tuesday's practice.

If the Calabasas girls' basketball team had played a theme song before each of its games the last four years, it might have been Social Distortion's "Bad Luck."

Like the man described in the song, the Coyotes always seemed to lose, especially in 2004 and 2005 when the team didn't win a single Marmonte League game.

This season the Coyotes' tough luck continued when fouryear starter and leading scorer Tori Cusick suffered a concussion against Westlake on Jan. 12 and was forced to miss the remainder of the season.

Through all the tough times the Coyotes have been dealt with, they've still found a way to hold their heads high and steadily improve. Last year the Coyotes finally snapped their losing streak in league play with a win over Agoura, and this season Calabasas swept a Marmonte League team (Simi Valley) for the first time in the history of the girls' basketball program.

The Simi Valley game "felt nice because we knew it wasn't a fluke win," Michelle Malkin said. "At the same time, it felt a little surreal because we had never done that before."

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers COYOTE QUICK- Calabasas' Leslie Schreiber, left, drives past Michelle Fassberg on her way to a layup on Tuesday afternoon.

Daniella Turenshine agreed with her teammate that the win was well earned.

"What I liked about the win the most was how we closed out the game strong," Turenshine said. "We are usually not good playing in the fourth quarter. This game we were down by six in the fourth, and we still found a way to come back and win."

Malkin and Turenshine are both four-year varsity players, along with Cusick, but they have hardly ever played on the court at the same time over the years due to injuries. Just when Malkin and Turenshine were finally healthy this season, Cusick was injured against Westlake.

"It happened in the first quarter when she (Cusick) was wrestling on the floor for a rebound," head coach Stan Whited said. "One of the other players accidentally kicked her in the head and knocked her out."

Cusick said she's doing much better now, but still misses being on the court.

"It kind of traumatized us; it wasn't a good thing, that's for sure," Whited said. "She was our best scorer and ball handler. We lost a couple games by just a few points that we might have won if we had her on the court. It was just a bad way for her to end her career here."

Although Whited said Malkin has improved her game in replacing Cusick at the point guard spot, Malkin said she still prefers to play the No. 2 spot and have Cusick on the floor with her.

"It's always really sad to lose a player like Tori," Malkin said. "It hurt even more for me and Daniella since we felt a real connection on the court with her by playing with her for so many years."

Malkin said one of her favorite moments during her time spent at CHS was when she, Turenshine and Cusick all experienced their first Marmonte league win last year against Agoura.

"I remember I just didn't want to leave the court because it felt so great to finally win," Malkin said. "On my computer I still have a picture of the scoreboard after the game was final."

Despite Cusick's injury, Calabasas has improved this season with a 9-15 overall record. The Coyotes' three wins in league are a team record. Although CHS will finally break free of last place in league, Whited believes they could've been even better.

"Without the injuries we had to a couple players this season, we could have been a .500 team," Whited said. "It's good to make small steps on the improvement ladder, but this year I was hoping for more of a leap."

Although the Coyotes will look to continue their improvement next season, the task will not be easy with the team losing nine of its 12 players to graduation. Assistant varsity and head JV coach Don Cusick said there's no need to worry about next year.

"We are losing many players, but our JV team right now is 9-3 and playing very well," Coach Cusick said. "Many of those JV players are freshmen as well as sophomores, so we have a good chance of continuing to improve for a while."

Malkin, Turenshine, Lauren Goldman, Kimmie Hemmar, Lauren Bachelis, Leslie Schreiber, Nina Moayer and Sanam Nazer will play their final home game tomorrow against Agoura. Game time is set for 7 p.m.