By DICK SPARRER
There was a reason Brie Ahern was picked to the all-league girls' basketball team last winter.
And Valley Christian and Carlmont found out that reason when they battled Homestead in the first two rounds of the Del Mar Holiday Tournament.
Ahern led the Mustangs to back-to-back wins to open the tournament, helping to send her club into the tourney finals against Santa Teresa.
Ahern pitched in 21 points in the two games, including three three-point buckets, to pace Homestead to the win.
Ahern popped 11 points and Yvonne Chen and Erin Morikawa added nine apiece in Homestead's 47-33 win over Carlmont in the tournament semifinals. All three canned three-pointers in the win.
Amy Huyett supported with six points and Hilary Parker added five. Lisa Holquin had four points, Yumi Minn two and Jennifer Beltramo one.
The Mustangs led by just a bucket at the first buzzer, and were up by only two at the half. But they outscored Carlmont 19-6 in the third period to take command of the game.
A night earlier Homestead had pounded Valley Christian 67-33. The Mustangs led 19-7 after a quarter and outscored the Warriors 24-8 in the second period to take a commanding 28-point lead by intermission, 43-15.
Chen drilled three three-pointers on her way to a 15-point night and Ahern finished with 10 points and a couple of threes. Morikawa and Parker joined the two in double digits with 10 points apiece.
Fremont drops three
The team ran into trouble in the tough Mitty Classic.
The girls opened against defending state champ Sacred Heart Prep and were pounded 77-17.
Fremont gave Menlo-Atherton a game before falling 53-35 in the second round, then lost to Piedmont Hills 50-30 in loser's bracket action.
Chi Tran popped 12 points and Haruka Soejima buried 10, but Fremont lost to Menlo-Atherton by 18. Both Tran and Soejima drained three-pointers.
Shauna Harrison hit a three and finished with seven points. Kim Johnson had four points and Amalia Castelino hit two.
The Indians were down just 10-9 after a period, but were outscored 16-8 in the second, 13-9 in the third and 14-9 in the fourth.
Soejima came back with 12 points, including a couple of threes, but the Indians lost 50-30 to Piedmont Hills on Friday.
Harrison came through with five points, Johnson and Castelino had four apiece, Tran added three and Colleen Smith hit two.
Fremont was outscored in every period but the fourth, and slipped to 1-7 for the year with the loss.
Tran canned six points and Soejima added five in the devastating 77-17 loss to Sacred Heart Prep. Soejima had a three-pointer for the Indians.
Harrison added four points and Castelino had two to round out the scoring.
Sacred Heart opened up a 31-3 lead in the first period and never looked back.
King's nails wins
Senior guard Amanda Davidson fired in 18 points and senior forward Michelle Steipp added 13 to lead the King's Academy girls' basketball team to a 47-32 nonleague win over Mercy of Burlingame.
Beth Davidson, a 5-foot-8 sophomore forward, supported with six points in the win and Megan Beck added four. Rebbeca Miller tossed in three points, Elizabeth Meng hit two and Elizabeth Smith added one.
The Knights topped Mercy 19-5 in the fourth, though, to pull out the 15-point victory.
King's improved to 5-6 for the year with the win.
The King's Academy boys' team, meanwhile, pulled out a 60-56 win over Valley Christian of Dublin.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 3, 1996
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.