Homestead's Garren Strong helped the Mustangs to a consolation title at the Mt. Pleasant Slamfest.




Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Homestead girls win Del Mar title

Mustangs top tough Warriors in final

By Dick Sparrer

Wade Nakamura was looking forward to a tough preseason for his Homestead girls basketball team.

So he scheduled powers like Westmont, Santa Cruz, Sacred Heart Prep and Amador Valley for a reason.

"Those tough games will hopefully prepare us for the league season," said the Homestead coach.

Well, the Mustangs are prepared, at least if last week's showing in the Del Mar Tournament is any indication.

Homestead breezed through the Del Mar Tourney with three straight victories, including a 45-42 win over Westmont in the tournament championship game.

Senior guard Vickie Chiang pumped in 13 points to lead the Mustangs to the three-point win over the Warriors.

Julia Randall, Tanya Green, Marie Levey and Chris Strombel supported with eight points each for Homestead in the win.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 13-5 first-period lead, but Westmont tied it by intermission, 23-23. Homestead opened up a six-point cushion by outscoring Westmont 16-10 in the third quarter, and held on as the Warriors got to within three in the fourth.

Homestead had opened the tournament with a 65-44 win over Valley Christian, then whipped Wilcox 56-45 to move into the championship game.

Randall tossed in 15 points and Levey added 12 in the win over Valley in the tourney opener. Chiang supported with 11 points and Strombel joined the other in double digits with 10 points.

Green added eight points in the win, Carolyn Whiteman hit five and Stephanie Malcolm had four.

Randall came back with 16 points in the win over Wilcox a night later. Green and Chiang also finished in twin figures with 10 points apiece for the Mustangs.

Levey chipped in with eight points, Strombel added seven, Malcolm had three and Whiteman hit two.

Boys win at MP

The Homestead boys beat James Lick 57-32 and Yerba Buena 62-59 to win the consolation championship in the Mt. Pleasant Slamfest last week.

John McGaughlin buried eight buckets to finish with 16 points in the win over YB in the consolation title game. Trenton Hill supported with 13 points and Robbie Hoffman bombed three three-pointers on his way to 11 points.

Garren Strong supported with eight points in the win, Taylor Carpenter hit six and Ramont Thomas, Tom Bishop, Randy Chang and Steve Vanderet had two each.

The Mustangs lost their tourney opener, but came back with the rousing win over Lick to move on to the consolation title game. Hoffman buried five threes to finish with 15 points against the Comets. Strong popped nine points and McGaughlin, Carpenter and Thomas added six each. Hill hit four points, Do Kim three and Chang, Bishop, Vanderet and Hafez Shahabi two each.

Fremont splits

The Fremont boys split a pair of decisions last week, beat Oceana 57-40 after losing 58-34 to Willow Glen in nonleague play.

Glenn Marasigan pumped in three three-pointers enroute to a 21-point night in the win over Oceana. Devin Scott supported with 11 points and Renato Carlos added 10 points, including a pair of threes.

Jacob Esau pitched in with seven points, David Arnold had four and Dominik Stewart and David Fernandez hit two apiece.

The Firebirds, now 9-6 for the year, had opened the week by dropping the decision to the Rams. Carlos led Fremont with 15 points, including a couple of threes. Esau had seven points, Marasigan six and Scott, Stewart and Jesse Enchill two each.

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