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Pioneer and Homestead may have played for the title, but thanks to the efforts of Victoria Liu and Gladia Castro, the girls basketball teams from Saratoga and Del Mar also looked pretty good at the recent Dons' Club Tournament held Dec. 2628 at Del Mar.
Liu led the Falcons to a third-place finish in the tournament, and Castro helped the Dons to a fourth in the three-day event. Saratoga beat Del Mar 48-36 in the third-place game.
Liu and Castro each finished the weekend by claiming positions on the all-tournament team that was dominated by two players each from Pioneer and Homestead. Gina Biviano of Pioneer was named the tourney's most valuable player after leading the Mustangs to a tight 26-24 win over Homestead in the championship game.
Just a couple of hours earlier, Liu and Amy Yee pitched in 12 points apiece and Bryte Nielsen added 10 to lead the Falcons to the important win over the Dons. Yee popped a pair of three-pointers, and Liu and Nielsen hit a three apiece.
Jordan Henry supported with seven points for the Falcons, all from the free-throw line, and Tiffany Tan had a three among her five points.
Saratoga lost a 34-33 heartbreaker to Homestead in the tourney semifinals. Tan hit five buckets, three of them from three-point range, to lead the Falcons with 13 points. Yee added seven points, including a pair of threes, and Nielsen finished with five points, including a three. Liu and Katie Levinson rounded out the Saratoga scoring with four points apiece.
The Falcons trailed the Mustangs by a point after a period (14-13), by three at the half (22-19) and by five after three quarters (31-26). Saratoga outscored Homestead 7-3 in the fourth quarter but came up a point short.
The Falcons will now open play in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week. Saratoga will host Palo Alto on Jan. 8, 7 p.m., before heading to Los Altos for a 6 p.m. game on Jan. 10.
In other local basketball action last week, the Saratoga boys split a pair of decisions, beating Prospect 55-46 before falling 51-44 to Mt. Eden.
Greg Van Hoesen muscled in 15 points and Matt Ashburn buried 13 to lead the Falcons past the Panthers. Ashburn hit a pair of three-pointers and seven free throws in the game.
Aron Mitsunaga and Dan Wallace supported with nine points apiece in the win. Lawrence Hui hit five points, Irving Chien three and Calvin Lin one. Mitsunaga popped a three.
Kyle Bonvechio and Fermen Smith led the Prospect effort in the game. Bonvechio had a three among his 11 points, and Smith supported with 10 points.
Steven Vidal and Kevin Haynes drilled seven points apiece for the Panthers, Luis Arellano had five, and Andrew Garduque, Ryan Najima and Greg Hawkins scored two points each. Arellano drilled a three.
Saratoga dropped to 8-4 for the year a night later after a 51-44 non-league loss to unbeaten Mt. Eden. Van Hoesen led the Falcons with 16 points, and Wallace finished in double digits with 10.
Chien and Hui had five points apiece, and each one drilled a three-pointer. Frank Wallace added four points, and Ashburn and Nima Rad had two points each.
Westmont, after jumping out to a brilliant 10-1 start in the 200203 season, lost twice last week, falling 41-28 to Leigh and 48-47 to Santa Cruz in the first round of the Soquel Winter Classic.
The Warriors were coming off of an outstanding showing in the Fremont-Sunnyvale Holiday Basketball tournament before Christmas. Westmont beat Gunn in a 43-42 thriller to clinch the championship in the granddaddy of all local holiday basketball tournaments.
Allen Iida pumped in 17 points and Michael Bottenberg added 14 to lead the Warriors to the title-clinching win over the Titans.
But no one could get into double figures for Westmont in the 41-28 loss to Leigh last week. John Baumgardner and Bottenberg tossed in seven points apiece to lead all Westmont scorers. Both hit three-pointers in the game.
Iida and Danny Sisemore canned four points apiece, and Michael Johnson, Joel Lopez and John Murray hit two each.
The Warriors slipped to 10-3 for the year following a tough 48-47 loss to Santa Cruz at Soquel. Westmont trailed 36-28 heading into the final quarter before outscoring the Cardinals 19-12. But the Warriors came up a point short.
Bottenberg poured in 22 points to lead the Warriors. Iida and Sisemore went for eight points apiece, Mike Gorski hit six, and Baumgardner added three. Gorski and Baumgardner each had three-pointers.
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Photograph by George Sakkestad