By DICK SPARRER
It couldn't have been any closer.
When the final buzzer sounded in the championship game of the Del Mar Tournament, the Homestead girls' basketball team was locked in a 47-47 tie with Santa Teresa.
The title would be decided in overtime.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, they were outscored 12-6 by the Saints in the extra period.
Still, the Mustangs weren't hanging their heads. They had still clinched a tourney second, and would take an impressive 10-3 season record into league play in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Hilary Parker, Yvonne Chen and Brie Ahern had led the Mustangs into the tournament finals, combining for over 40 points in a 67-52 tourney win over Valley Christian.
Parker led Homestead with 16 points. Chen pitched in three three-pointers and finished with 13 points for the Mustangs, and Ahern added 12 points, including a three.
Aisling Nolan and Yumi Minn joined the others in double digits with 10 points apiece. Amy Huyett had six points and Lisa Holquin added four.
Chen came back with 17 points and Parker had 16, but the Mustangs lost in the tourney title game to Santa Teresa. Ahern added 11 points to the cause, Minn had seven and Huyett hit two.
Homestead battled back from the loss with a 59-43 win over Gunn to open the league season.
Parker banked home 15 points to lead all Homestead scorers and Chen drained three threes en route to a 13-point night. Minn had a pair of threes and finished with nine points, and Ahern added seven points, including a three.
Erin Morikawa supported with six points, Norlander had four, Huyett and Kelly Hadden hit two apiece and Holquin added one.
Earlier in the preseason, Chen had 11 points and Minn canned 10 to lead the Mustangs to a 54-33 win over Aptos. Morikawa and Parker supported with seven points apiece and Huyett hit six. Ahern had five points and Norlander, Nolan and Jennifer Beltramo had two each.
The Mustangs face a couple of tough tests in league play this week. Homestead was to host St. Francis on Jan. 9, 7 p.m., and will visit Monta Vista on Jan. 13. Homestead coach Ernie Dossa rates the two as the co-league favorites this winter.
Fremont girls fall
Chi Tran tossed in 12 points and Haruka Soejima added 10, but the Fremont girls dropped a 53-35 nod to Menlo-Atherton to slip to 1-6 in the preseason.
Shauna Harrison added seven points for the Indians in the loss. Kim Johnson had four points and Amalia Castelino added two. Tran, Soejima and Harrison each buried three-pointers.
Knights are winners
The King's Academy girls' basketball team opened the Christian Private Schools League season with a convincing 58-26 win over San Francisco Christian.
Mandy Davidson was outstanding for the Knights in the win with 18 points, 17 steals, 11 assists and seven rebounds. It was the seventh triple-double of the year for the 5-foot-3 senior guard. She's had four quadruple-doubles for the Knights.
Rebbeca Miller and Candice Despain supported with 10 points apiece for the winners and Michelle Steipp added eight points. Megan Beck had four points, Emily Spates and Alison Rodriguez each buried three-point buckets and Michelle Smith and Elizabeth Meng added two points apiece.
The Knights, now 8-7 for the year and 1-0 in league play, opened up a 22-2 lead in the first period and outscored San Francisco 11-1 in the second period to take a commanding 33-3 lead by intermission.
King's was coming off of a 56-40 loss to Mercy of San Francisco. Beth Davidson led the Knights with 12 points and Miller added nine. Steipp had eight points, M. Davidson six, Spates three and Meng two.
King's boys fall
Lance Westcott jammed 13 points, but the King's Academy boys' team dropped a 44-37 decision to San Francisco Christian in the league opener for each club. Westcott had three three-pointers for the Knights.
King's clipped to 6-8 for the year with the loss.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 10, 1996
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.