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Photograph by Robert Scheer

Homestead's Michelle Wald, diving for a loose ball in a game last season, helped the Mustangs to an easy win over El Camino in the first round of the Del Mar Holiday Tournament.

Wald, Mellberg lead Mustangs to easy win over El Camino

By Dick Sparrer

Homestead literally turned El Camino inside out when the two girls' basketball teams met in the first round of the Del Mar Holiday Tournament last Saturday night.

With Michele Wald working the inside and Shelly Mellberg the outside, the Mustangs rolled to a lopsided 55-37 win over El Camino to advance to the semi-finals of the Del Mar against Carlmont.

The Mustangs and Scots were to meet Monday in the semi game, with the winner advancing to the tourney title game set for Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., at Del Mar against the winner of the Del Mar-Westmont game. The losers of the two semi-final games were to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Homestead, now 8-2 for the year, was led by Wald, who poured in 18 points, including six buckets from the field and six free throws. Mellberg supported with 15 points, with three of her six field goals coming from the three-point range.

Julie Speckels pitched in nine points for the winners, including a three, and sophomore Marie Levey added seven points. Vickie Chiang supported with four points.

Homestead and El Camino were tied 11-11 at the first buzzer, but the Mustangs pulled away in the second by outscoring EC 20-8. They stretched their 12-point lead to 20 by the end of the third period and coasted from there to the victory.

The Mustangs were coming off back-to-back wins over Fremont and Soquel.

Speckels buried four three-pointers and led the Mustangs with 16 points in the 53-28 win over Soquel. Chiang and Wald tossed in nine points apiece, and Levey and Serra Hwang added six points each. Hwang fired in a pair of threes.

Wald popped 13 points and Speckels added 11, including three threes, to lead the Mustangs to an easy 42-21 win over Fremont. Chiang chipped in with seven points in the win.

Tran leads Fremont

Chi Tran led the Firebirds with eight points and Kim Johnson added seven. Natalie Woo tossed in four points and La-Nolia Ufondu hit two.

The loss left the Firebirds 3-3 for the year, but Fremont battled back with a 51-42 victory over Pioneer to improve to 4-3.

Monique Gammon tossed in 15 points and Woo fired in 13 to lead the Firebirds to the win over the Mustangs.

Tran finished with eight points, including a three, and Ufondu also had eight. Sarah Larin added four points, Beatriz Corro two and Pia Galindo one.

The Firebirds and Mustangs were locked in a 10-10 tie after a period, but Fremont came on strong in the second period, outscoring Pioneer 21-12 to lead by nine at the half, 31-22. Pioneer cut the lead by four in the third, but the Firebirds got the four points back in the fourth to win by nine.

Firebirds split

The Fremont boys' basketball split four games at the Fremont-Sunnyvale Holiday Tournament. The Firebirds lost 47-42 to Santa Cruz and 49-33 to Piedmont Hills before beating Del Mar 48-47 and Lynbrook 54-45 to finish 13th in the tourney.

Ben Skinner pitched in 12 points and Darren Lang hit 11 to lead the Firebirds to the tight win over the Dons. Reynold Carlos and Darrell Frederickson supported with seven points apiece, Michael Hardwick and Melvin Rabena had four points each and Michael Harris dropped a three-pointer.

The Firebirds outscored the Dons 15-11 in the final period to come from behind for the win.

Skinner jammed 11 points and Rabena canned 10 in the tourney-opening loss to Santa Cruz, and Carlos drilled 10 points in the 16-point loss to Piedmont Hills a game later.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 31, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.