By Dick Sparrer
John Melvin couldn't have asked for much from his Prospect girls' basketball team in the preseason.
He took his Panthers to the Gilroy Mustang Tournament ... and they won it.
He took his Panthers to the Cupertino Tournament ... they won that one, too.
And he took his Panthers to the Newark Memorial Tournament.
You guessed it. They won again.
Prospect finished the preseason with a 12-0 record and three tournament titles.
"That's six consecutive December tournaments that we've won," Melvin said, looking back to last season. "That's a threepeat two years in a row."
And tourney titles don't come easy.
"No matter what tournament it is, it's hard to win three in a row," the coach said. "And it's even tougher when everybody is pointing at you."
Still, the Panthers made it three straight when they won the Newark title with a 44-41 win over Castlemont.
Sophomore center Ami Forney starred for the Panthers in the title game, just as she had throughout the tourney. Working against a 6-foot-4 center from Castlemont, the 6-foot-2 Forney pitched in 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. She also had a steal and blocked two shots.
"Ami was the best player in the tournament," Melvin said of his sophomore star. A week earlier she was the most valuable player in the Cupertino Tournament.
Forney finished the three games with 50 points, tossing in 18 in a 52-40 win over American and adding 19 in a 50-28 victory over Mission San Jose in the semifinals.
Megan Sainsbury also had a big tournament for the Panthers with 39 points in the three games.
The 5-foot-6 senior guard buried 12 points and snagged seven boards in the win over Castlemont. She added four assists and three steals.
"She was outstanding the whole tournament," Melvin said of Sainsbury, who had scored 16 against American and 11 against Mission San Jose.
The coach was also pleased with the performance of 5-foot-6 senior guard Shelley Kurose.
"She was the magnet that held us all together," Melvin said of Kurose, who had four points, eight rebounds and five steals in the title game.
Theresa Nguyen chipped in with five points and five rebounds and Kim Fujii had two points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal in the finals.
"We had good, solid defensive play," the coach said. "We got off to a good start, and basically hung on."
Melvin added the 5-foot-7 junior forward Heather Winkleman played "outstanding defense" and helped out on the boards in the three wins.
Forney's 18 and Sainsbury's 16 sparked Prospect to the 52-40 win over American to open the tourney. Nguyen joined the two in double digits with 10, Kurose hit four and Fujii added two.
Forney poured in 19 points and Sainsbury tossed in 11 in the 50-28 win over Mission San Jose. Kurose had six; Lyndsey Najima three; Cindy Sharpe, Nguyen, Winkleman and Fujii two each; and Ericka Slykhouse, Kristie Carlquist and Carolyn Martin one each.
Mats win opener
Monta Vista opened play in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with an impressive 60-28 win over Lynbrook.
Kristin Coolidge poured in 18 points to lead the Matadors to the victory. Yvonne Tseng had eight in the loss for the Vikings.
The Matadors improved to 9-0 for the year with the victory.
Kim Seid had fired in 11 points to lead the Mats to a 57-25 nonleague win over Menlo-Atherton. Kristen Franklin supported with nine points and Coolidge had eight.
Tseng had fired in 19 points, but Lynbrook dropped a 64-42 decision to Valley Christian to finish fifth in the Del Mar Tournament. Alice Liu had 10 points in the loss.
Yerba Buena Tournament
Lynbrook played its way into the title game at the Yerba Buena Tournament, but the Vikings ran headfirst into a hot Westmont club.
Lyneé Velasco pumped in 17 points and Melissa Taylor added 13 to lead the Warriors to a 50-43 victory.
Lauren Costanzo chipped in with seven for Westmont, Tiffany Reiblein added six, Melissa Newberg hit five and Lindsay Hahn had two.
Tseng had the hot hand for the Vikings and led all scorers in the game with 26 points. She had a three-pointer for Lynbrook.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, January 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.