Photograph by Aaron Suozzi
Fremont's Natalie Woo hustles the ball upcourt against Homestead in a nonleague game played last week. Woo tossed in nine points, but the Ladybirds lost a 67-34 decision to the Mustangs.
By DICK SPARRER
Fremont didn't win the championship at the 76er Invitational at Independence last weekend.
But the Firebirds did win a championship.
The Fremont boys' basketball team rebounded from a tournament-opening loss to Mountain View to take the consolation championship in the three-day tourney.
The Firebirds lost 52-35 to the Spartans, but battled back to beat Prospect 69-67 and North Salinas 45-43 to clinch the consolation crown.
Melvin Rabena and Jabbar Burton led the Firebirds to the successful showing in the tournament, sharing game-high honors in the three games.
Rabena and Burton combined for 33 points to lead the Firebirds to the important two-point win over Prospect in the second round of the tourney.
Rabena led the 'Birds with 17 points and Burton was close behind with 16. Rabena pitched in three three-pointers and Burton canned a pair.
Reynold Carlos and Rich Lockmanese joined the two in twin figures in the win with 10 points apiece. Darren Lang added six points, Danny Douglas and Warren Rick had four points each and Ben Skinner hit two.
The Firebirds fought back from a five-point first period deficit to pull to within a point at the half, 36-35. They topped the Panthers by six in the third quarter to take a five-point lead, and held on to win by two.
The victory pushed Fremont into the consolation championship game, and the Firebirds edged North Salinas by two, again thanks to a big third period.
North Salinas led 14-7 at the first buzzer, but the Firebirds cut the lead by three in the second quarter and outscored NS 15-9 in the third to take the lead. The clubs matched 12 points in the fourth, and Fremont hung on to win by two.
Burton led the Firebirds with 13 points and Lang tossed in 11. Skinner jammed eight for the winners, Carlos had seven and Lockmanese hit six.
Rabena drilled a pair of threes on the way to 13 points, but the Firebirds lost their tourney opener to Mountain View. Burton hit seven points, including a three, and Lockmanese added seven. Lang tossed in four, Carlos two and Rick and Michael Harris one each in the loss.
Fremont is 4-2 for the year following the tournament.
Mustangs lose two
The Homestead boys opened the week losing a 57-45 nonleague decision to Lynbrook.
Kayzell Milton had the hot hand for the Mustangs in the game with 15 points and Jimmy Olevson pitched in 10. Each one hit a three-pointer for Homestead.
Steve Papoulias canned three points in the loss for the Mustangs and Brian Blasquez, Pat Cabbell, Tony Elam and Dat Lai had two each.
The Mustangs dropped to 0-4 for the year later in the week after losing 62-50 to James Lick in another nonleague test.
Scott Belion poured in 14 points, including a couple of threes, and Lai buried 11 points for the Mustangs. Milton added nine points, Blasquez hit six, Brian Holm and Olevson four apiece and Papoulias two.
King's wins
The King's Academy boys upped their record to 3-2 with a 66-54 victory over Berean Christian in the BC Tournament.
The Knights had four players finish in double figures in the win over the tournament's host team. James Terada led King's with 17 points and Nate Morrow was close behind with 16. Tayo Akinsete tossed in 15 points and Dan Carter dropped 11.
Joel Vanderet supported with five points for the winners and Tony Castillo had two. Terada drilled a couple of three-pointers and Vanderet had one.
Mustangs top 'Birds
In girls action, Homestead opened the week with a convincing 67-34 win over Fremont, but the Ladybirds came back to beat Castilleja 45-24 to improve to 2-3 for the year.
Homestead outscored Fremont 18-6 in the first period and 29-4 in the third on the road to a 33-point win over the Ladybirds. The Mustangs are now 3-0 in the young season.
Hilary Parker tossed in 12 points to top a list of 11 Homestead scorers in the easy victory.
Yumi Minn chipped in with 11 points and Erin Morikawa added 10 points. Brie Ahern and Michele Wald supported with eight points apiece, Yvonne Chen hit six, Shelly Mellberg and Kelly Hadden dropped four each, Donna Tripiano had two and Julie Speckels and Michiko Nakayama hit one apiece.
No player could hit in double digits for Fremont. Natalie Woo led the Ladybirds with nine points and Charlotte Salvacion added six. Sheila Hess, Chi Tran, Sarah List and La-Nolia Ufondu tossed in four points each and Kim Johnson hit three.
Homestead will visit Leigh on Dec. 19, 6:30 p.m., and will host Santa Clara on Dec. 23, 3 p.m., in a pair of nonleague games.
Ladybirds win
Fremont came back strong later in the week to beat Castilleja by 21.
The Ladybirds fell behind 8-2 after a tough first period, but they came back strong to outscore their hosts 16-6 in the second, 12-4 in the third and 15-6 in the fourth to claim the easy win.
Tran had the hot hand for Fremont in the victory. She led the Ladybirds with 20 points, including three three-pointers among her eight field goals.
Woo and Ufondu supported with six points each and Salvacion added three. Kristi Wadley, List, Beatriz Corro, Keri Truong and Cory Rodriguez rounded out the scoring with two each.
Fremont will now move on to the Cupertino Tournament this week. The Ladybirds open tourney play on Dec. 19, 3:30 p.m., against Prospect. The tournament runs Dec. 19-21 in the Cupertino High School gym.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 18, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.