Photograph by Robert Scheer
Homestead's Hilary Parker dishes off a pass in a CCS win over Gilroy. The Mustangs also beat Leland to advance to the Division II semifinals this week.
By DICK SPARRER
Monta Vista-Mitty ... it's the matchup everyone is looking forward to.
Everyone, that is, but the girls' basketball teams at Live Oak and Santa Teresa.
The Acorns and Saints would like nothing better than to the keep the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds from meeting for the championship in the Central Coast Section Division I girls' basketball tournament.
To pull off the thrilling match-up on March 1, 6:30 p.m., at the San Jose State University Events Center, Monta Vista has to turn back Live Oak and Mitty has to knock off Santa Teresa in a semifinal doubleheader on Feb. 27 at Leland.
The Monarchs, 21-2 for the year and the No. 1 seed in the division, will take on Santa Teresa (13-10) at 8 p.m., following the battle between Live Oak (20-5) and Monta Vista, 21-3 and the No. 2 seed in the tourney.
But if things go as expected, it will be Kari Walsh and the Monarchs who take on Kristin Coolidge and the Matadors in the title game on Friday night.
Mustangs in semi's
The Homestead girls advanced to the CCS Division II semifinals with an impressive 68-39 win over Leland last weekend.
Hilary Parker buried 16 points to lead the Mustangs to the 29-point victory. Parker, a talented 5-foot-11 junior forward, pitched in 10 of her 16 points at the free-throw line.
Junior guards Yvonne Chen and Yumi Minn joined Parker in double digits. Chen finished with 14 points for the Mustangs and Minn added 13. Both drained a couple of three-pointers.
Brie Ahern, another of Homestead's talented junior guards, pitched in with six points. Erin Morikawa and Erica Mellberg hit five points apiece and Amy Huyett had four. Lisa Holquin and Aisling Nolan added two each and Becky Norlander hit one.
The Mustangs jumped all over the Chargers 15-7 in the first period and whipped Leland 19-6 in the second to take a commanding 21-point lead in at intermission. Homestead outscored Leland in every period on the way to the victory.
The Mustangs advance to the CCS Division II semifinals against North Salinas. Homestead takes a 21-6 season record into the game against the Vikings, 23-4 following a narrow 52-51 win over St. Francis last weekend.
Homestead and North Salinas will collide on Feb. 28, 6 p.m., at Milpitas. The winner moves on to the CCS title game March 2, 6 p.m., at the San Jose State University Events Center against the winner of the Presentation-Woodside semifinal game.
The Mustangs had opened the playoffs by hammering Gilroy 51-19. Ahern led the club with 12 points and Parker tossed in 10. Chen finished with nine, Minn had six and Morikawa added five. Ahern, Chen and Morkikawa all buried three-pointers.
Huyett, Norlander, Nolan and Michiko Nakayama had two points each in the win.
The Mustangs led by just four after a period, but stretched that 11 by the half. Homestead blitzed Gilroy 25-4 in the second half to coast to the win.
Indians fall
North Salinas moved into the Division II quarter-finals with a 59-46 win over Fremont.
The Indians slipped to 12-13 for the year with the loss, but it was quite a year for Fremont.
Fremont managed to win a co-championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The Indians were 11-3 in division play, thanks to the outstanding play of Colleen Smith, Jenny White and Haruka Soejima.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 28, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.