By Dick Sparrer
John Melvin was talkin' defense.
But his Prospect girls' basketball team was rather offensive in the Cupertino Holiday Tournament last week.
That's offensive in a good way, at least from Prospect's perspective.
The Panthers poured in 184 points in three games to win the Cupertino title just two weeks after they'd won the crown at the Gilroy tournament.
Following the championship performance at Gilroy, Melvin said, "This seems to be one of the strongest defensive teams we've had."
But the other teams in the Cupertino field might disagree.
Oh, sure, the Panthers can play defense. But they can also throw that ball in the net.
Prospect whipped Fremont 60-38, crushed Wilcox 57-24 and pounded Mountain View 67-42 to cruise to the tourney title at Cupertino.
The Panthers, now 8-0 for the year, jumped out to a commanding lead in the title game, outscoring the Spartans 25-8 in the first period.
Ami Forney, Prospect's talented 6-foot-2 sophomore center, led her team to victory with 14 points. Forney finished the three games with 52 points and was picked the tournament's most valuable player.
Megan Sainsbury, a 5-foot-6 senior guard, joined Forney on the all-tourney team after finishing the title game with 12 points.
Shelley Kurose tossed in 10 points to join the two Panthers in double digits. Theresa Nguyen had nine points and Kristie Carlquist canned eight. Heather Winkleman, Kim Fujii and Carolyn Martin dropped four points each and Lyndsey Najima added two.
Forney had opened the tourney with 25 points in a 60-38 win over Fremont. Kurose and Sainsbury chipped in with eight points apiece, Winkleman had six, Najima five, Nguyen four and Fujii and Carlquist two each.
The Panthers advanced to the title game with an easy 57-24 win over Wilcox. Forney led the club with 13 points and Kurose added 11. Winkleman finished with eight points, Sainsbury seven, Carlquist six, Martin five, Nguyen four, Fujii two and Cindy Sharpe one.
Fremont Tournament
David Newberg buried 14 points, but the Westmont boys' basketball team suffered a tough 55-44 loss to Oak Grove in the Fremont-Sunnyvale Tournament.
Each club entered the round game with an unbeaten record. Oak Grove came out of the contest with a 6-0 season mark, but Westmont slipped to 8-1.
Newberg, Westmont's talented 6-foot-5 senior forward, topped the Warriors with his 14 points. Lee Reyes supported with eight points and Rob Lambourne canned seven.
Nate Tomforde hit two buckets, one of them from three-point land, to finish with five points and Andy Brown had four. Hoon Chung hit a three, Jeremy Spence had two points and Matt Tait added one.
The Warriors trailed by five at the first buzzer, 13-8, but outscored the Eagles 11-9 in the second period to trail by just three at intermission, 22-19. Oak Grove topped the Warriors 17-7 in the third, though, to take control of the game.
Earlier in the week, Westmont had pulled out a thrilling 58-52 overtime win over Leland in nonleague play.
Newberg poured in 27 points, including 15 from the free-throw line, to lead Westmont to the win.
Reyes chipped in with 12 points, including a couple of threes, and Chung had five points. Brown, Spence and Tait hit four points each and Lambourne added two.
The clubs went back and forth through the first four periods. Leland led 11-10 after a quarter, but Westmont was up 30-29 at the half. The Warriors led 45-42 heading into the fourth, but the Chargers charged back to tie it by the end of regulation.
Westmont topped Leland by six points in the extra period to pull
out the win and remain unbeaten.
The Warriors are now out of action until after Christmas. Westmont will host Prospect Dec. 27 at 7 p.m.
Matadors nail win
Kristin Franklin pumped in 20 points and Kristin Coolidge fired in 18 to lead the Monta Vista girls' basketball team to a 59-49 win over Ursuline of Santa Rosa.
The Matadors improved to 7-0 for the year with the victory.
Vikes edge Falcons
Yvonne Tseng accounted for over half of Lynbrook's points in a low-scoring 23-20 win over Saratoga in nonleague play last week.
Tseng tossed in 12 points to finish as the only player in double digits in the game.
Shelly Zisko led the Falcons with six points and Sarah Ruby and Erica Miyamoto tossed in four points each. Andrea Lo, Jill Moon and Audrey Lo had two points each for the Falcons.
Lynbrook improved to 2-3 with the win, and the Falcons slipped to 1-4.
Earlier in the week the Vikings had turned back Leigh 46-35. Tseng drained three three-pointers on the road to a 19-point night.
Westmont girls win
The Westmont girls won big last week, pounding Overfelt 67-15 in a nonleague game.
The Warriors blanked the Royals 25-0 in the first period and never looked back.
Sophomore forward Melissa Newberg topped a list of 11 Westmont scorers in the win with 13 points. Tiffany Reiblein joined her in twin figures with 11 points.
Mandy Williams tossed in eight points and Courtney Makishima, Colleen Sale and Melissa Taylor pitched in six points each for the winners. Lyneé Velasco, Lindsay Hahn and Lauren Costanzo finished with four points each, Stephanie Herrera had three and Emillia Ortiz added two.
The Warriors improved to 2-3 with the win. Westmont will now take part in the Yerba Buena Tournament Dec. 18-23 before breaking for the holidays.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, December 20, 1995.
©1995 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.