There's a basketball championship still to be won in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League heading into the final week of the regular season.
And the Homestead girls will try to win it when they visit rival St. Francis on Feb. 16 for a 7 p.m. game in Mountain View.
The Mustangs and Lancers share the division lead as they square off this week, thanks to a couple of Homestead wins last week and an upset victory by Monta Vista over St. Francis.
Homestead crushed Los Gatos 55-30, then whipped Fremont 54-34 to improve to 9-1 in the division and to 22-3 for the year.
St. Francis destroyed Santa Clara 62-32 last Thursday night to move to 9-1 in league play and to 20-4 for the year. But earlier in the week the Lancers were upset 48-46 by Monta Vista, knocking them from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Monta Vista's win over St. Francis opened the door for Homestead. The Mustangs lost to the Lancers in the first round of the league campaign and were hoping for a shot at a title tie in the second meeting between the two clubs. But with some help from the Matadors, Homestead now could win the division title outright with a win this week.
Of course, the Mustangs will still have one game remaining after St. Francis. Homestead will wrap up the regular season at home against Palo Alto on Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m.
The Mustangs put themselves in position to play for the title with the two lopsided wins last week.
Homestead opened the week with the 25-point win over the Wildcats.
"We played pretty well, we passed the ball well and we got out in transition," said Homestead coach Wade Nakamura. "We created some easy baskets with our press."
Senior guard Julie Speckels led all scorers for Homestead with 11 points. Michelle Wald, Shelly Mellberg and Julia Randall chipped in with eight points each, and Vickie Chiang added six. Tanya Green and Marie Levey hit four points apiece, Nadja Fabian popped a three-pointer, Diana Lee had two and Rachel Fredrickson hit a free throw.
"We played fairly good defense in the half court," added Nakamura. "We gave up some easy baskets, but overall played good help-defense and pressured the ball well."
The coach praised the work of Speckels, Randall, Lee and Green on both ends of the floor, but added, "just like all our wins, it was a total team effort."
It was more of the same later in the week in the 54-34 win over Fremont.
Wald had the hot hand for the Mustangs with 16 points, and Mellberg supported with nine. Both hit three-point buckets in the win.
Levey tossed in eight points, Chiang seven, Speckels four and Green, Lee, Randall, Fredrickson and Stephanie Malcolm two each.
Homestead opened up a 12-7 lead in the first period and stretched that to 27-10 by intermission on the road to the easy win.
"We just want to get as many good games under our belt as possible," said Nakamura, "so we can be prepared for CCS."
First, though, the Mustangs will make a run at the league championship.
Monta Vista gave Homestead a shot at that title with its upset win over St. Francis last week.
Senior standout Anna Abatzoglou poured in 20 points and Janey Garrison supported with 13 to lead the Matadors to the impressive victory. Abatzoglou, a 6-foot-1 comeback all-leaguer, jammed eight buckets from the field and added a pair of free throws, and Garrison, a 5-foot-11 senior co-captain, had a three among her five field goals and also dropped two points at the line.
Kim Stocklmeir supported with eight points, Heather Janssen had five and Tyann Taylor hit two.
The Matadors opened up a 16-12 lead in the first period, but the Lancers tied it by the half, 24-24. The Mats went up by four again in the third, 36-32, but this time St. Francis could just pull to within two points.
Monta Vista backed up that win with a solid 40-26 victory over Palo Alto later in the week. The two victories helped the Mats improve to 8-3 in the division and to 17-6 for the year.
Garrison was the top scorer for the Matadors, pouring in three threes on her way to 14 points. Abatzoglou added 12 points in the win.
Vicki Wang had two buckets, including a three, to finish with five points. Stocklmeir hit four points, Taylor buried a three and Helen Jang hit two free throws.
In other local girls action, Lynbrook split a pair of games to push its record to 4-9 in the El Camino Division and to 7-16 for the year.
Julie Stevens bombed four three-pointers among her six field goals to finish with 16 points in Lynbrook's 44-34 win over Mountain View. Sophomore guard Mari Gomes added 13 points, including a three.
Earlier in the week, Gomes had tossed in 12 points, but the Vikings lost 44-27 to Milpitas.
The Cupertino girls lost twice last week, falling 50-37 to Saratoga and 52-38 to Gunn.
Margaret Donoghue poured in 17 points, but the Pioneers ended up losing by 13 to the Falcons. Trishaun Roberts and Allison Mine pitched in six points apiece, and Stephanie French and Tiffany Campbell added four points each.
Roberts came back with 11 points and Donoghue hit 10, but Cupertino dropped a 52-38 nod to the Titans. French had six points, Kellie Utsumi added five, including a three-pointer, Mine popped four points and Maria Gonzalez hit two.
The Pioneers slipped to 6-6 in the division and to 12-11 for the year with the two losses.
In boys action in the SCVAL last week, Homestead hung on for a 46-42 win over Fremont.
Matt Hoffman had a great night for the Mustangs, nailing five three-pointers on the road to a 21-point effort. Dat Lai hit a pair of threes and finished with 12 points for Homestead.
Matt Root added five points, Steve Lambert and Trenton Hill hit three apiece and Max McKay and A.J. Pepper had one each.
The Mustangs, 5-5 in the division and 8-16 for the year, had opened the week with a 60-57 win over Gunn.
Hoffman fired in 18 points to lead Homestead past the Titans. The senior had a couple of threes among his four field goals, and he added eight points at the free-throw line.
Root pitched in seven buckets to finish with 14 points, and Pepper hit five shots to finish with 10. Hill and McKay added four points apiece and Lai and Hovik had three each.
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