BASKETBALL YOUTHFUL LEADER SOPHOMORE MCDANIEL IS MOST-EXPERIENCED LION.

Byline: Nevin Barich  Staff Writer

Perhaps on another girls' basketball team, Kaley McDaniel wouldn't be emerging as a leader just yet.

But at Oaks Christian High, the new school in Westlake Village that has no other players with varsity experience, McDaniel's time with Moorpark High's varsity last season makes her the one to whom the others look up.

McDaniel, a sophomore forward, started four games and averaged 6.6 points a game for Moorpark. None of the other nine Oaks Christian players, all freshmen and sophomores, have played higher than junior varsity.

``Kaley is going to be a great player,'' said her former coach, Moorpark High's Brent Milburn. ``She has great enthusiasm and always showed a lot of hustle.

``Having a player with varsity experience is crucial. Last year, we had only one senior and it showed. A team needs leadership and experience. It's a war out there, and having someone who has been through the battles will help the team.''

Oaks Christian coach Don McMasters also thinks McDaniel's experience will help give the program something it will be searching for this winter: respect.

``I think that having a player like Kaley sort of legitimizes our team,'' McMasters said. ``We have someone on our team who has played all of those big schools, someone who has played with everybody.''

McDaniel downplays her significance at Oaks Christian. She said her experience will best be used as the summer goes on and the team works together.

After that, she said, the biggest thing will be the team itself and what kind of chemistry it will have on the court.

``I think it's more important for the other girls to get the experience over the summer,'' McDaniel said. ``That will help us the most in the long run. I'm just one player. To function as a team, we'll need more than that.''

Perhaps, but some of her teammates, such as freshmen Brett Shiflett and Felicia Gill, put McDaniel at a higher stead.

``Because most of us are freshmen, sometimes we struggle a lot,'' Shiflett said. ``But Kaley definitely helps us with the leadership and experience she brings to the team.''

Added Gill: ``One of the best ways Kaley helps us is in practice. Sometimes, when we do drills, a lot of us have trouble because we haven't done them before. But then Kaley will go out and do them perfectly. Then she'll show us how to do it.''

Besides having played with Oaks Christian in the Westlake junior varsity league, McDaniel has also played club ball with the Sparks of the American Roundball Corporation in North Hollywood.

Last month, the Sparks finished seventh in the 17-and-under division at the Basketball Congress International tournament in Colorado Springs.

Though it will be the team's first season and its schedule includes schools at a higher level than its own Division V-A standing, McDaniel has no doubt that Oaks Christian will achieve success right away.

``I think we are going to gel very quickly,'' McDaniel said. ``The girls who are there are interested in doing well and have good attitudes. We won't have the difficulties of other teams.''

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(color in Conejo edition only) Sophomore Kaley McDaniel, who has played just four varsity games, is the most-experienced player at new Oaks Christian High.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer