Alotis Has Been There, Done That

Raquel Alotis is among the proud few who have played on a national championship girls’ basketball team.

The Times’ 1999-2000 Valley coach of the year at Chatsworth High was a senior guard for Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1991-92, when the Panthers went 33-0 and captured Southern Section, state Division I and USA Today national titles in 1991-92.

Alotis, a shooting guard, averaged 10 points on a team that included six future Division I college players. She attended UC Santa Barbara.

She will be in attendance tonight, when No. 1 Buena (22-0) hosts No. 3 and defending national champion Harbor City Narbonne (18-2) in perhaps the biggest game ever played in the region.

“It will be huge for basketball in this area and in California,” Alotis said. “Back when I played, there was nobody out here that was considered our equal.”

Alotis knows a little about both opponents. Her Chatsworth team lost to Narbonne, 69-44, last season in the City Section semifinals. She scouted Buena in a 74-40 nonleague victory over Harvard-Westlake last month.

She thinks the key to tonight’s game will be confidence and tempo.

“First, you have to be confident without being arrogant, which shouldn’t be a problem,” Alotis said. “I’m sure both teams think they’re going to win.

“I think what Buena has to do is control the tempo and not get caught up in a run-and-gun game. Buena is more structured and organized, good at reading and getting the best shot.

“Narbonne likes to put up a shot real quick, pound the boards and keep going at it. To beat Buena, they’ll have to hit the boards hard and get running [on the break].”

Alotis was impressed with both teams and the players’ skills.

“Every five years or so, the level of play as a whole rises to another level in women’s basketball,” she said. “We’re at that next step now.

“When I played, I think I averaged less than one rebound. Our post players were only supposed to get the ball down on the blocks. With Buena and Narbonne, each player can perform every skill.”

So could Buena and Narbonne beat Alotis’ ‘91-92 Peninsula team?

“I didn’t say that,” she said. “I still think it would be a good game and I think we’d win, of course.”

Alotis offers what she considers the most important piece of advice, for both teams:

“Leave the court knowing you played your best, and always remember this experience,” Alotis said. “There will never be anything like this again in your lives, not even in college. In college, you don’t always have your friends, your family, your community around you and there’s not the same kind of bonding.

“This is a completely different experience.”