Allen’s Team as Rich as Ever at North Hollywood

No surprise here. The North Hollywood High girls’ basketball team is still head and shoulders above its competition in the Valley Pac-8 Conference.

Dominating isn’t a strong enough word for this program.

The Huskies have won 27 consecutive conference games and figure to win another 10 this season.

In the past 12 seasons, they have won 10 league titles and made three appearances in the City Section final.

The Huskies, who have three starters back from last season’s 20-3 team and also picked up Monroe transfer Lindsay Sotero-Higa, have it all: talent, experience and depth.

Although scoring machine Anna Celaya--a two-time Times’ All-Valley selection who averaged 24 points last season--has graduated and moved on to Occidental College, North Hollywood still has the personnel to put up plenty of points.

Senior center Samantha Fargeon (5 feet 10), junior guard Stephanie Wasserman (5-4) and senior forward Liset Maya (5-8), all returning starters, are averaging about 10 points each. Sotero-Higa (5-4), a sophomore guard, is playing like a veteran, averaging 11.8 points. Freshman guard Tashean Thomas (5-4) is averaging 9.1 points and 4.2 steals.

With three underclassmen starting--and playing well--the Huskies’ future continues to look bright.

And with the talent that Coach Rich Allen seems to obtain each season, he has no qualms about scheduling tough opponents early in the season.

North Hollywood (8-3) has lost to Crescenta Valley, Pasadena and Notre Dame, but also has posted impressive victories over Pasadena, Notre Dame, Fillmore and Bell-Jeff.

“We don’t pretend,” Allen said. “We really play a hard schedule.”

The seven other conference teams will be hard pressed to knock off the Huskies.

Van Nuys, with all five starters returning, figure to be the best candidate to upset North Hollywood, but the Wolves recently lost senior center Lynne Berry (5-8) for the season because of a broken ankle.

“We’re too small and have no rebounding,” Van Nuys Coach Tony Magnante said. “If I had Lynne, we’d be fairly decent, but. . . .”

Grant (5-2) is the only team other than North Hollywood that will begin conference play with a winning record.