Moseley Had Charted the Territory Ahead

At a high school with one of the richest traditions in boys’ and girls’ basketball in the Southland, Naila Moseley has earned a special place among Crenshaw’s elite athletes.

The 6-foot senior forward is the first to receive a basketball scholarship to Stanford, one of the country’s most prestigious academic universities. It also has arguably the premier women’s basketball program.

When Moseley, 17, signed her national letter of intent in November, Crenshaw Principal Yvonne Noble announced it at school. Classmates cheered. Teachers congratulated her.

“I appreciated all of the well-wishers, but I really didn’t like being placed on a pedestal,” Moseley said Friday night after leading her team to an 83-23 victory over Carson in the first round of the City Section Division 4-A playoffs. “I wanted people to treat me the same way they always did.”

The achievement didn’t come as a surprise to Moseley, who entered Crenshaw in the ninth grade with the dream of making the varsity team and earning a scholarship to Stanford.

She accomplished both, also becoming the first girl at the school to start four consecutive seasons. She’s a favorite to be selected the section’s player of the year, an award she shared with teammate Kristi Lattin in 1995.

To reach her goals, Moseley mapped out a strategy before starting high school. She wanted to take as many college preparatory classes as possible, so she enrolled in the school’s Teacher Training Magnet program. She also joined a local organization geared to help students get into college.

“Naila has been incredibly focused since she started here,” Crenshaw Coach Greg Cobbs said. “That’s why I didn’t hesitate to start her as a freshman. It’s a lot of pressure for a young girl, especially at a school with high expectations.”

Moseley’s parents, Isaac and Margie, said they never had to motivate their daughter to do the right thing.

“Naila knew what she wanted, and she really never swayed from that,” Margie said. “She just understood that she wasn’t going to get too far in sports without the academics. She always wanted to be the first in our family to graduate from college.”

Moseley took the Scholastic Assessment Test as a sophomore and received a high enough score to be eligible for a college scholarship. Most students take the test during their junior or senior years.

She also played on as many traveling and all-star teams as she could in the off-season to increase her visibility among college coaches. She was recruited by dozens of colleges, including Arizona and Washington.

Her hard work paid off for Crenshaw, which won section titles in 1994 and ’95 and is the top-seeded team in the playoffs this season with a 20-3 record.

Moseley, who concedes all of the distractions have taken away from her game a bit, is averaging 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists a game.

A strong supporting cast, including guards Danielle Rainey and Kisha Shepard, has allowed her time to get back into the groove.

“I was juggling so much last fall that I started a little slow this season,” Moseley said. “My game is only about 50% of what it can be.”

Said Cobbs: “Naila has her best basketball days ahead of her. She’s only scratched the surface of her ability.”