The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Important win for Mustangs Girls hold on to outlast Monta Vista By Dick Sparrer It was a game each team needed to win. The Homestead girls needed the victory because they had just suffered their first loss of the league season earlier in the week to St. Francis. And the Monta Vista girls needed the victory to climb into a second-place tie in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. But only one team can win in high school basketball, and that turned out to be good news for the Mustangs and bad news for the Matadors. Homestead pulled out a 46-44 victory over Monta Vista in a Thursday night thriller on the Matadors' floor. The Mustangs held off a late run by the Mats to clinch the win and push their season record to 19-3 and their league mark to 6-1. The Matadors slipped to 3-3 in the division and to 12-5 for the year. Homestead seemed to take command of the basketball game by outscoring the Mats 18-2 in the third period, but Monta Vista outscored the Mustangs 13-5 in the fourth, only to come up a bucket short. But that was pretty much how the game went throughout. Homestead led 15-9 at the first buzzer, but the Mats came on strong in the second period to outscore the Mustangs 20-8, good for a 29-23 halftime lead. Homestead battled back in the third and went up 41-31 heading into the fourth. There was no quit in the Matadors, though, not on this Thursday night at home. The Mats made a solid run at Homestead, but finished two points short. Michelle Wald led the Mustangs to the victory with a 13-point effort. Wald hit just one shot from the field, but calmly buried 11 free throws on her way to the 13 points. Julie Speckels and Vickie Chiang pitched in eight points apiece, Tanya Green had seven, Shelly Mellberg hit six and Julia Randall and Chris Strombel added two each. Mellberg drilled a pair of three-point buckets and Speckels hit one. Earlier in the week, the Mustangs lost a 50-38 decision to the Lancers. Speckels led Homestead with 13 points, Wald had nine, Chiang seven, Green four, Randall and Marie Levey two apiece and Strombel one. St. Francis also pounded Fremont 73-27 in other local girls action last week. Monique Gammon led the Firebirds with 15 points, including a three. Daynelle Parker and Josie Wells had four points each and Shade Akanbi and Valerie Lund added two each. Fremont is now 2-5 in the De Anza Division and 8-11 for the year. Boys split The Fremont and Homestead boys teams each split in El Camino Division play last week. The Firebirds beat Cupertino 43-30, but only after falling to Gunn 68-44 to open the week. The Mustangs also turned back Cupertino, 47-44, but lost 52-46 to Monta Vista to finish the week. Melvin Rabena tossed in 15 points and Tam Kim buried 12 to lead Fremont to the 43-30 win over the Pioneers. Cameron McNeil supported with nine points. McNeil and Rabena each hit three-pointers. Jacab Esau added six points, Erwin Tugadi two and Glenn Marasigan one. The win helped the Firebirds improve to 5-2 in the El Camino Division. The week didn't start out that well for Fremont, though. The 'Birds dropped a 68-44 nod to Gunn in the battle for the division lead. Rabena led the Firebirds with 14 points. Kim finished with 12, McNeil 10, Marasigan five, Esau two and Tugadi one. Rabena, Kim, McNeil and Marasigan each hit three-pointers. Homestead started the week off right with a 47-44 win over Cupertino. Max McKay led a balanced scoring attack with 11 points for the Mustangs and Dat Lai was close behind with 10. Matt Hovik and Steve Lambert supported with five points apiece, Keith Morikawa had four, and Matt Hoffman, Jim Kiel and Trenton Hill hit three each. Hovik and Hoffman each canned three-pointers. Joe Whiteman pitched in two points and Matt Root had one to round out the scoring for Homestead. Homestead dropped a tough 52-46 decision to Monta Vista a few days later, despite a 14-point effort by Lambert. Lai finished in double digits with 10 points and Hoffman hit nine, including a three. McKay had seven points in the game and Root, Hill and A.J. Pepper added two points each. The Mustangs are now 2-5 in the division and 5-16 for the year. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.