BASKETBALL BEAT.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore, Ramona Shelburne Staff Writers

BOYS: REDEMPTION

Former Burbank High basketball coach David Goosen, who sued the Burbank Unified School District for wrongful termination last year, recently reached an out-of-court settlement with the district.

Goosen, 33, was fired as the Burbank coach last January for using an ineligible player and allowing a Burbank player to drive the team's rented van part of the way home from a Las Vegas tournament.

Goosen immediately filed a lawsuit against the district, claiming he was the victim of a smear campaign by the disgruntled parent of a Burbank player, and that charges against him were either completely false or blown out of proportion.

``The fact that the district decided to settle with me before this ever went to court pretty much explains what really went on,'' Goosen said. ``I did this to get my name back. For me, that was first and foremost. I was wrongly fired, bottom line. I feel now like I can close this chapter of my life and move ahead.''

Goosen, 33, did not reveal the financial terms of the settlement. However, he is donating the entire amount to tsunami-relief efforts.

``This was never, ever about money,'' Goosen said. ``This was about clearing my name.''

Nancy Gascich, director of personnel for the BUSD, declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Goosen, who now teaches at Reseda High, is an assistant coach under Ralph Turner at Canoga Park.

``I look forward to being a head coach again soon,'' Goosen said. ``The last year has been difficult for me with this hanging over my head. It really affected my options in terms of employment. I really want to thank (Ralph) Turner. He gave me a chance when no one else would. I appreciate that.''

Goosen was most disturbed by the way his decision to let one of his players drive the van was portrayed.

At the time, the van was more than an hour outside of Las Vegas and Goosen was suffering from a 102 fever. Rather than pull over and rest, Goosen thought it was safer to let one of the players take over for a while.

``People ask me all the time if I would handle that situation differently, and I guess considering how this all turned out, maybe I would have,'' Goosen said. ``But at the time, I was making a judgment decision with my team's safety the most important factor. I was definitely in no shape to drive at that point, and the thought of pulling a van filled with high school basketball players to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere just didn't seem like the safest thing to me. I honestly didn't think I had any other alternative than to do what I did.''

WINNING TOUCH

Calabasas junior forward Conrad Fitzgerald missed more than a month with a deep thigh bruise, but he certainly is doing his best to make up for lost time.

Fitzgerald hit the game-winning shot Friday to lift the Coyotes over host Royal 51-49. Calabasas (14-4, 4-0) played Thousand Oaks Wednesday in a key Marmonte League game.

It was the second time in Fitzgerald's career that he hit a game-winning shot.

``My first ever (junior varsity) tournament I hit the shot to win it,'' Fitzgerald said. ``It's a great feeling.''

Fitzgerald missed 10 games after getting kneed in the thigh this season, an injury that took longer than expected to heal. When healthy, the 6-7 Fitzgerald gives the Coyotes another big-man option in an already impressive rotation of forwards.

Calabasas coach Russell White played Fitzgerald in brief spurts Friday, but decided to stay with him down the stretch.

``He was struggling in the first half, wasn't really feeling like he was getting it done,'' White said. ``But (on that play) it was all just great footwork. The guy did two, three pivots for the layup. I'm happy for the kid.''

CROWDED SCHEDULE

Taft of Woodland Hills and Verbum Dei of Los Angeles moved their game scheduled for Feb. 5 up to Saturday at Taft.

Tipoff is 7 p.m.

Taft beat Verbum Dei in December at the Top of the World Tournament in Cerritos.

It makes an already busy basketball day one-game busier. Also Saturday, the California Hoops Challenge will start at Cal State Dominguez Hills beginning at 10 a.m.

For local basketball fans, it's a must see.

Here's the schedule:

--10:00 a.m.: Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) vs. Mayfair (Lakewood)

--11:30 a.m.: Hoover (San Diego) vs. Muir (Pasadena)

--1:00 p.m.: Serra (San Juan Capistrano) at Long Beach Poly

--2:30 p.m.: San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) at Fremont (Los Angeles)

--4:00 p.m.: Bakersfield at Mater Dei (Santa Ana)

--5:30 p.m.: Cleveland (Reseda) at Loyola (Los Angeles)

--7:00 p.m.: Lynwood at Fairfax (Los Angeles)

--8:30 p.m.: Dominguez (Compton) at Centennial (Compton)

A number of impact players will be featured, including Louisville-bound point guard Andre McGee (Canyon Springs), Patrick Christopher (Mayfair), Jay Dee Luster (Hoover), Gerrell Finney and Alex Finley (Muir), Devon Adams (Serra), Kevin Buggs (Long Beach Poly), Brook and Robin Lopez (San Joaquin Memorial), Danny Williams (Fremont), UCLA-bound sophomore Taylor King (Mater Dei), Jason Hill (Cleveland), Jordan Wilkes and Buchi Awaji (Loyola), Jerry Davon Jefferson and Seketoure Henry (Lynwood), Jamal Boykin (Fairfax), Bryan Harvey (Dominguez) and Tyre Thompson (Centennial Compton).

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Burroughs of Burbank (9-10, 2-0) is on a roll after pulling off the biggest Foothill League upset in years Friday with an 81-66 road rout of Valencia.

The Indians followed that by taking apart Hart 75-44 on Tuesday to remain even with Saugus (14-3, 2-0) for first place.

Burroughs is at Canyon on Friday, then visits Saugus at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Indians got a limited, although obvious, lift from 6-foot-10 center Sean Anderson, who made his season debut Friday against Valencia after returning from a foot injury.

If Anderson stays healthy, he'll provide Burroughs with some much-needed size.

``You can coach your tail off, but you can't coach that kind of size,'' coach Art Sullivan said. ``It's a difference maker. Now when guys beat their man off the dribble and drive the lane, there's a 6-10 guy under the basket and all of a sudden guys are like, `Whoa.' You can't coach that.''

GIRLS: WHO'S HOT

--Camarillo: The Scorpions (11-4) are having their finest season in recent years under the senior leadership of Samantha Hind, Lindsay Trout and Valerie Quinn.

Quinn has only played seven of the team's 15 games because of a knee injury but is averaging about 13 points per appearance. Quinn played at Camarillo as a freshman and sophomore, transferred to Royal last season, but came back to Camarillo for her senior year.

``This year we're doing a lot better as a team because we're working together a lot better,'' said Trout, who averages 11 points a game and is a captain along with Hind. ``We really want to win our league so we don't have to play a really tough team so early in the playoffs.''

--Westlake: It's still early in the Marmonte League season, but Westlake (10-4, 4-0) looks like the team to beat.

``Ever since I've been a freshman people have been saying 'They're a young team and they're going to be good someday,' so I hope this is finally the year we are,'' junior guard Kathryn Scardino said.

Coming into the season, four teams looked as if they had a chance at the league title: Royal, Newbury Park, Westlake and Simi Valley. Westlake already has beaten Royal and Newbury Park.

``I think we all knew this year was going to be our year and we worked really hard in the preseason,'' said Scardino, the team's second-leading scorer (12 ppg). ``We lost some games early on, but they were all against very good teams (Hart, Valencia, Ventura and Newbury Park) and I think it really prepared us for league. We're a much better team now.''

--Bria Fields, Paraclete: The junior post player scored a career-high 48 points and pulled down 20 rebounds for Paraclete in a 68-56 victory over L.A. Baptist of North Hills on Tuesday night. Fields missed most of last season with a knee injury but played all 32 minutes Tuesday.

--Daviyonne Weathersby, Valencia: The 5-foot-2 senior guard scored her second game-winning, buzzer-beater Tuesday in a 60-59 victory at Burbank. Weathersby also made a game-winning shot in Valencia's 60-58 upset of Keppel of Alhambra last month at the Artesia tournament.

LEAGUE UPDATES

--Foothill: Saugus senior guard Kelly O'Linn wasn't sure what to expect when Eric Olsson returned to coach at the school after a year coaching at Clovis West High near Fresno.

O'Linn and Olsson clashed when she was a sophomore. Olsson even demoted her from the varsity to JV midway through the season.

Last year under Ron Manalastas, O'Linn flourished and quickly established a solid relationship with her new coach.

But all of O'Linn's fears dissipated shortly after Olsson returned to campus. During his first day on the job, he held a team meeting after school.

O'Linn said she was nervous to attend her individual meeting with the coach, but found out that Manalastas, who is friends with Olsson, had put in a good word for her and spoken at length about her maturity.

After a few practices, Olsson could see that Manalastas was right about O'Linn.

``Our relationship has grown a great deal this year,'' Olsson said. ``I'm very proud of her for how much she has matured. She has been our 'go- to' player this year.''

--Golden: Lancaster defeated Palmdale for the first time in school history last Thursday, ending the Falcons' Golden League winning streak at 22 games.

``I'm a pretty serious guy, but I smile once in a while, and I was smiling after that one,'' Lancaster coach John Gallen said. ``I just wish we could've played Saturday while we had a little momentum going.''

Lancaster's game Saturday against Littlerock was postponed because of snow in the area. Antelope Valley district schools were closed Friday through Tuesday because of the winter storms that flooded many roads in the area.

--Marmonte: Royal already has lost more league games than it did the past two seasons. The Highlanders lost only once in 2002-03 and once last season, both to Newbury Park. This season, they opened league play 0-2, with losses to Newbury Park and Westlake.

``We have to pray that they lose at least once and then beat them the next time we play them to even have a chance at winning league,'' senior guard Kelly Winther said. ``We're in a bad spot right now as far as that goes, so we just have to go day by day.''

ory over Newbury Park the next time the teams play Jan. 21.

--Mission: Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy will go for her 450th career victory Saturday against Notre Dame. If she doesn't get it then, she'll have to wait until Jan. 21 against Flintridge Sacred Heart.

--Sunset Six: Grant High of Van Nuys senior guard Mallory Flot returned to action this week at the Fairfax tournament last week after missing four games with an ankle injury. Flot scored 48 points in three games at the tournament. Grant went 3-1, defeating Gardena, Locke and Wilson and losing to Fairfax.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1) DAVID GOOSEN

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(2) CAMARILLO'S LINDSAY TROUT, VALERIE QUINN AND SAMANTHA HINDE

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Box:

(1) DAILY NEWS TOP 10

(2) SEVEN-DAY FORECAST