Homestead was without sophomore center Becky Tratter, who suffered a neck injury a week earlier against Monta Vista and had missed the Mustangs' tough 34-30 loss at Palo Alto on Tuesday. Lynbrook was without its biggest player, 5-foot-10 senior center Jenny Dorman for the third straight game, and point guard Courtney Itow, who had sprained a knee earlier in the week at Los Gatos.

Homestead, however, was able to replace Tratter with another 6-footer—junior Sandra Kiel, who joined seniors Mandy Wald and Shelly Baxter to form an imposing front line for the Mustangs last season when they shared the El Camino Division. Kiel, Wald and Baxter all had 10 points as the Mustangs improved to 4-1 in league with a 43-28 win.

"When their small forward [Wald] is four inches taller than our center, we're in trouble," said Lynbrook coach Darrin Garcia.

Junior Jenn Ling scored eight points and sophomore Laura Crisler had six for the Vikings.

Junior Nikki Chang was the top Viking scorer against Los Gatos with eight points. Junior Vickie Chien had seven, and freshman Emily Shen added six points. Garcia praised the play of senior Evan Smith.

Chang (13 points) and Shen (12) also had been the top scorers in a 46-37 loss at Saratoga.

In Homestead's loss at Palo Alto—a hard-fought, nip-and-tuck affair—both offenses struggled to score.

With the Mustangs and host Vikings pressuring each other throughout, no three-point goals were made. Even free throws were scarce, Homestead sinking just two of 11 and Paly converting on six.

Homestead led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter, but trailed 22-21 at halftime. Points were especially at a premium in the second half when the teams combined for just 21 points.

Homestead really clamped down on Palo Alto in the third quarter, allowing just three points and moving ahead 26-25. Palo Alto regained the lead early in the fourth quarter and held on for its fifth De Anza division win without a loss.

Wald and Baxter led the scoring with seven points apiece. Jenelle Kitasoe scored six. Kiel tallied four points. Elham Mirshafiel, Melissa Manuel and freshman Cheryl Ichikawa all had two.

The Mustangs faced more adversity than just Paly's nagging defense.

Besides Tratter, sophomore Christina Fukumoto, usually the first Mustang off the bench, was out with the flu. Manuel missed much of the third quarter and part of the fourth with an injury. Finally, Wald played fewer minutes than usual because of foul trouble.

Still, the Mustangs battled for all 32 minutes. Wald had 15 rebounds and Baxter 11. Kitasoe, who spent much of the night bringing the ball upcourt against Paly's quick guards, dished out three assist and made three steals. Manuel sparkled defensively with four steals and Mirshafiei came off the bench to contribute two assists and a steal.

The going was not as stressful for Homestead in the previous game against Monta Vista, a 59-21 triumph.

Wald (15), Kitasoe (12) and Tratter (11) paced the Mustang offense. Fukumoto had a good all-around game with seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Mirshafiei and sophomore Victoria Park both scored four points. Sophomore Claudia Lee had five rebounds, three assists and two steals and junior Ryan Gallagher chipped in with a rebound and a steal.

Kim Lau led the Matadors with seven points and Sandra Kou and Melanie Wen had four apiece. Sophia Tan added three, Maud Castejon two and Stephanie Cochrane one.

In El Camino action, Cupertino's Sarah Hovland scored 12 and teammate Lisa Chang had 10 during a 44-35 loss to Fremont.

Hovland, a senior, also led the Pioneers in rebounding with nine. Chang, a junior, had four rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocked shots. Junior Dami Feyisetan had five points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Jane Rodstein scored four for the Pioneers and Amanda Byler and Viola Huang added two each. Amy Benson contributed four rebounds and Kait Franks passed out three assists.

In a 37-30 loss to Gunn on Jan. 16, Feyisetan scored 12 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Pioneers.