Newbury Park

Both teams were left wondering what happened. But only Laguna Hills High was left standing after the Hawks rallied from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Newbury Park, 54-43, in a Southern Section Division II-A semifinal girls' basketball playoff game Saturday night at Thousand Oaks High. The victory over No. 3-seeded Newbury Park was Laguna Hills' second upset in as many games.

Newbury Park High discovered Friday night that two guns are better than one in a 38-27 nonleague win over Buena at Ventura High. Led by the offensive arsenal that is quarterback Keith Smith and receiver Leodes Van Buren, the Panthers (2-1) rolled up a 30-7 first-half lead. Buena threatened with two touchdowns by George Keiaho in the third quarter before Smith (16 of 26, 250 yards) launched a 47-yard scoring pass to Van Buren.

It was just one step toward a much bigger goal for the Newbury Park High girls' basketball team, but if you asked Fullerton, it felt a lot more like a stomp. The No. 1-seeded Panthers dominated Fullerton in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs on Wednesday and came away with a 68-21 victory. However, it wasn't even that close. Newbury Park took a 31-3 lead midway through the second quarter en route to its region-best 21st consecutive victory.

The battle for second place--the real race in the Marmonte League this season--has finally been won. Newbury Park High survived a seventh-inning rally by host Royal on Wednesday to escape with a 5-4 victory that assured the Panthers (16-8, 11-2 in league play) of a second-place finish. Royal (14-9, 9-4), which has clinched third, dropped two games behind Newbury Park with one to play.

A driver whose blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit is in critical condition after his car hit the center divider of the Ventura Freeway north of Victoria Avenue early Sunday, authorities said. Moris Quiroz, 25, entered the southbound Ventura Freeway about 1:10 a.m. traveling about 80 mph when his car drifted across two lanes and into the center divider, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Newbury Park resident Jane Tint died Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 72. Born Oct. 18, 1923, Mrs. Tint was a longtime resident of the Thousand Oaks area, a homemaker and a devoted wife to her husband of 48 years, William. "She was a loving, wonderful woman," said one of her granddaughters. "She just loved kids." In addition to her husband, Mrs.

Chris Czernek connected with Patrick Reddick on an 80-yard pass play on the first play from scrimmage and Newbury Park High rolled to a 27-7 victory over Royal in a Marmonte League game Friday night at Moorpark College. Czernek, who last week set a Ventura County record with 426 yards passing, threw for 242 yards and three touchdowns, completing 16 of 28. Czernek has passed for an area-high 2,196 yards and 18 touchdowns this season.

Student baseball players who have been shut out of their Newbury Park fields will get three freshly refurbished diamonds next month, after the pony league, city and school district agreed Tuesday to split the cost of fixing up the playing fields. The Newbury Park Pony Baseball League will shell out up to $40,000 to build a new field at Cypress Elementary School. The league, which has about 500 players, will seek volunteer workers to cut its costs.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Department plans to investigate complaints of sexual battery filed by female students at Newbury Park High School against three male students, a detective said Wednesday. The investigation will center on allegations of misdemeanor sexual battery, which is generally described as the grabbing or touching of private body parts, Detective Debbie DeMattia said. A 20-page report has been compiled from complaints by an undisclosed number of girls, DeMattia said.

A few years ago, Campus Crusade for Christ and Focus on the Family moved all or most of their operations out of Southern California to less expensive locations--namely, Orlando, Fla., and Colorado Springs, Colo. Likewise, the domestic operations of World Vision will move from Monrovia to the Seattle-Tacoma area late this summer in a previously announced relocation. One religious agency however, recently spurned offers from seven other U.S. cities--including Orlando and Lincoln, Neb.