Saratoga News
Sports
Prospect, Del Mar squads open season with victories
By Dick Sparrer
The basketball teams at Prospect and Del Mar have something in common this week--they're all 2-0 in league play.
That's right, the boys and girls squads at both Prospect and Del Mar opened the league season in fine fashion last week with back-to-back victories to open the Blossom Valley Athletic League campaign.
The Prospect boys edged Westmont 58-56 and Leigh 44-41 in the Mt. Hamilton Division and the girls topped Independence 59-30 and edged Branham 52-50 in Santa Teresa Division action.
The Del Mar boys handled Independence 48-42 and Lincoln 57-47 and the girls knocked off Andrew Hill 44-26 and Lincoln 33-31 to open West Valley Division play with a couple of wins apiece.
It was a tough week of BVAL competition for Westmont, though. Not only did the Warriors lose to Prospect, but they also fell to Piedmont Hills 53-44 in boys action, and the girls lost twice--44-34 to Piedmont and 54-43 to Gunderson.
The win over the Warriors was a big one for the Prospect boys, who broke a 41-41 tie after three quarters to win by a bucket.
Kendall Hendon and Natnael Taye shared team-high honors for the Panthers with 16 points apiece. Hendon had a couple of threes among his seven field goals and Taye drilled eight shots from the free-throw line.
Joey Akeley joined the two in double digits with 10 points, Zach Stevenson had seven, Calvin Garduque hit a pair of threes for six and Alan Lynn popped a three.
It was Westmont's Michael Weimer who had the big night individually, though. The 6-foot-6 senior forward poured in 26 points to lead all scorers. He had a pair of threes among his 10 field goals and added four points at the line.
Senior guard Spencer Smith finished with 14 points, most of it on four three-pointers, and Max Schneider added nine points, including a three. James Weimer had a three among his five points and Dominik Arbet added two points.
Prospect came back two nights later to pull out a 44-41 win over Leigh. Taye led the Panthers with 13 points and Stevenson was close behind with 12. Hendon added nine points, Jason Ohlhaver four and Lynn and Garduque three apiece. Lynn hit a three-point bucket.
The Panthers, now 10-5 for the year and 2-0 in league, will hit the road to face Piedmont Hills on Jan. 10, 7 p.m., before returning home to host Santa Teresa on Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m.
The Warriors, who had entered league play with a solid 10-2 season record, slipped to 0-2 two nights later after a 53-44 loss to Piedmont Hills.
Darrien Broadnax hit 13 points, including a pair of threes, to lead the Warriors and Smith had two threes among his four field goals to finish with 10. Schneider added eight points, M. Weimer and Brian Bangs six apiece and Arbet one.
Panthers win two
The Prospect girls started league play in grand fashion with back-to-back wins to push their record to 8-6 for the year.
Sophomore Jennifer Jasper tossed in 18 points and Shelly Otaguro and Katie Kinder hit 15 apiece to lead the Panthers to a 59-30 win over Independence. Kinder canned a pair of threes and Otaguro added one.
Simone Scott had seven points in the win and Taylor Kikuchi had a three among her four points.
In the tight 52-50 win over Branham, it was Jasper coming through with a big 27-point night to lead the Panthers to victory. Scott supported with 16 points and Kinder had two threes to finish with six. Otaguro added two points and Zlata Malicevic hit one.
The Panthers will be out to continue their winning ways in league play this week. They were to host Oak Grove on Jan. 9 before heading to Live Oak on Jan. 11, 7 p.m. Prospect returns home on Jan. 16, 7 p.m., to face Silver Creek.
Westmont girls lose
The Westmont girls, like the boys, opened league play with a couple of losses last week.
Senior Megan Scheibli tossed in 14 points, but the Warriors dropped a 44-34 nod to Piedmont Hills. Kelly Gregg added seven points, Christine Dupic five and Alyssa Kanzaki and Stephanie Priest four apiece.
Scheibli had gone for 16 points, including a three, but Westmont lost 54-43 to Gunderson earlier in the week. Gregg had three threes and a free throw to finish with 10 points, Priest had eight, Rubina Banwait five and Dupic and Robyn Araujo two apiece.
