Mustangs hope for charming year

Fremont girls third at Shirakawa Classic

By Dick Sparrer

If the third time truly is the charm, what could Wade Nakamura and his Homestead girls basketball team possibly do this season that would be more charming than what they've done the past two years?

Nakamura returns for his third season as the Homestead coach, and in his first two years he has led the Mustangs to back-to-back Central Coast Section Division II championship.

But if the Homestead coach can do it again this season, he will certainly leading a charmed life. Because he takes a young club into the 2000-01 campaign, and a CCS repeat will be possible only if those young Mustangs can come together in time for the postseason.

Still, Homestead is off to a hot start in the current campaign. The Mustangs whipped Oak Grove 40-27 in nonleague play last week to improve to 3-3 for the year.

"We have a challenging pre-season and should see what we need to work on as a team and as individuals," said Nakamura. "We play one of the toughest pre-seasons in CCS with three games at the Amador Valley Tournament and four games at the West Coast Shootout in Antioch."

Leading the charge for the Mustangs this season will be talented senior returners Tanya Green, Julia Randall and Chris Strombel.

"[They] should be standouts in league play," said Nakamura of the three seniors.

Green, a 5-foot-10 forward, returns for her fourth varsity season after winning all-league and all-CCS honorable mention plaudits last year. She has already accepted a full basketball scholarship to UOP.

Randall, a 6-foot-1 forward-center, is back for her third varsity campaign at Homestead and also won all-league and all-CCS honorable mention spots a year ago.

Strombel is a 5-foot-10 forward who is another four-year varsity player for Homestead.

Seniors Charlene Jarrett (5-foot-7 forward), Carolyn Whiteman (5-foot-4 guard) and Pavla Mikula (5-foot-7 guard) and juniors Stephanie Malcolm (5-foot-8 guard) and Adrienne Hoopes (5-foot-10 forward) are other veterans back on the court for the Mustangs this season.

Junior Sabrina Gauthier (5-foot-8 guard) and freshmen Mandy Wald (5-foot-10 forward) and Janelle Kitasoe (5-foot-4 guard) are newcomers expected to help the varsity.

"Hopefully the young players will come along quickly," said Nakamura. "We expect ourselves to be competitive every time we step onto the floor."

They have been so far. The Mustangs lost twice at the Amador Valley Classic, falling 56-45 to Campolindo and 51-27 to St. Francis, and they lost in the first round of the Pioneer Classic to Oak Grove 36-33.

But they rebounded with wins over Monta Vista (53-27) and Westmont (41-31) at Pioneer, and avenged that early loss to Oak Grove with a 40-27 win last week.

Randall tossed in seven buckets to finish with 14 points and Green added 11 points in the win over the Eagles. Gauthier supported with five points in the win, Wald had four, Jarrett hit three, Kitasoe two and Elyse Maru one.

Randall went for 18 points to lead the Mustangs to the 41-31 win over Westmont in the consolation championship game at the Pioneer Classic. Jarrett and Gauthier chipped in with eight points apiece, Green had four and Wald hit three.

A game earlier, Green and Randall buried 18 points apiece in the 53-27 win over Monta Vista. Jarrett popped five and Kitasoe and Gauthier had four each.

The Mustangs, who were to host Washington of San Francisco on Monday, will return to the floor for the West Coast Shootout in Antioch Dec. 26-30.

Firebirds third

The Fremont girls finished third at the Shirakawa Classic at Yerba Buena last week, beating Saratoga 44-34 in the third-place game.

The Firebirds opened the tournament with a 51-24 win over James Lick, but lost a game later to Independence 58-47. Fremont went on to play Saratoga for third place, and posted a 10-point victory.

Senior center Rachel Saldivar tossed in 14 points and junior guard Katrina Ison added 11 points in the win over the Falcons. Stacey Ledesma added eight points, and Sara Harvey and Danyll Gammon hit four apiece.

Senior center Daynelle Parker poured in 23 points to lead the Lady Birds to the win over Lick to open the tournament.

Harvey tossed in nine points for Fremont, and Ledesma, Ison, Gammon and Tiana Stroughter hit four each.

Harvey had a three-pointer among her 11 points, but it wasn't enough to lead the Firebirds past Independence. Stroughter and Leanne Bautista supported with eight points apiece, and Ledesma and Saldivar had six each. Ison and Gammons rounded out the scoring with four points apiece.

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