Saratoga News Photograph by Scott Lechner Westmont's Feras Elrayas, moving in for a shot in a preseason tournament game against Pioneer, helped the Warriors to their first win of the league season last week. Mahaffey locks on target And helps Westmont bomb Piedmont 57-41 By Dick Sparrer Sheryl Mahaffey was locked on the target. And with all the precision of a guided missile launcher, she went on the attack last week for the Westmont girls basketball team. Mahaffey ended up bombing Piedmont Hills for five three-pointers and 27 points to lead the Warriors to a convincing 57-41 victory over the Pirates in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. It was an impressive performance for the 6-foot-1 junior forward. Mahaffey bombed five long-range buckets among her 10 field goals and added two points at the free-throw line to lead the Warriors to the win. Junior forward Alyssa Parsons supported with 11 points for Westmont in the win, and Stacey Simmons, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, joined the others in double digits with 10 points. Gina Kottikas, Zuleeka Mohamed, Victoria Sifuentez and Jenny Brown added two points each for the Warriors, and Kim Castillo hit one. The Warriors outscored Piedmont in every period on the road to the victory. Westmont is now 4-4 in the division and 12-9 for the year. In other local action, Saratoga split a pair of games in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, beating Lynbrook 50-36 after falling to Wilcox 50-47. Senior Karin Bencala was sensational in the Saratoga win over the Vikings, pouring in a game-high 24 points. Freshman Stephanie Morrison supported with 10 points, Nancy Fathali and Nicole LaMore had six apiece, and Karen Woo and Szu-Han Wang had two each. The Falcons, now 5-5 in the division and 10-9 for the year, dropped a 50-47 heartbreaker to Wilcox to open the week. LaMore had the hot hand for the Falcons with 16 points, including a three, and Bencala tossed in 15 points. Fathali and Wang added six points each, and Morrison and Lynn Chouw added two each. Prospect lost twice last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, falling 65-39 to Mt. Pleasant and 61-25 to Oak Grove. In boys basketball action last week, Westmont posted its first win of the league season, turning back Leland 47-37 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL. The Warriors are now 1-7 in the division and 6-14 for the year. Navdeep Hundel tossed in 12 points to lead all Westmont scorers in the win, and Vincent Chung and Erik Cisler added 11 points apiece. Chung hit a three-pointer. Kyle Collins added seven points, Feras Elrayas had four, including a three-pointer, and Daniel Sherburne hit one. The Warriors were able to overcome a six-point first-period deficit by topping Leland 11-2 in the second quarter and 19-9 in the third on the way to their first league win. The Panthers lost their only BVAL game last week, dropping a 41-40 heartbreaker to Willow Glen to slip to 4-3 in the Santa Teresa Division. Prospect is 14-6 for the year. Jerome Ort and Mike Senteio tossed in nine points apiece to share team-high honors for the Panthers. Thomas Turner added eight points, Gil Vasquez six, Barry Sharpe five and Stephen Juran three. Sharpe and Juran each dropped three-pointers. The Panthers fought back from a 26-13 halftime deficit to make a game of it. Prospect topped the Rams 16-8 in the third quarter and 11-7 in the fourth, only to come up a point short. Over in the SCVAL, Saratoga split a pair of decisions in the El Camino Division. The Falcons whipped Cupertino 74-57, but only after dropping a 54-52 heartbreaker to Fremont. Junior sharp-shooter Micah Weger tossed in 26 points to lead all scorers in Saratoga's easy win over the Pioneers. Weger had a pair of threes among his eight field goals, and he added eight points at the free-throw line. Geoff Lamotte, another hot three-point shooter for the Falcons, supported with 13 points. He popped three threes. Bill Wallace tossed in eight points, Matt Garrapolo and Spencer Jamison hit six apiece, Dan Goñi had four, Mike Crosby canned a three, and Scott Snider, Max Sandigo and Adam Weiskal added two each. Earlier in the week, though, a late Saratoga comeback came up two points short in the 54-52 loss to the Firebirds. Weger led the Falcons with 21 points, and Lamotte drilled 11, including a three. Jamison had a three among his eight points, Crosby and Goñi had four points each, and Garrapolo and Wallace had two points each. The Falcons are now 4-5 in division play and 13-10 for the year. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.