"Next to the Catholic league and probably the Santa Cruz league, ours is one of the toughest," says Lynbrook coach Darrin Garcia about the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, the new home of his team and Homestead. "The way our league is set up is a monster. At least four of the top 15 teams in our section are in our league."

And the Mustangs definitely showed they are one of the highly regarded teams Garcia has in mind, opening the league season with wins over Saratoga and Los Gatos.

Interestingly, last week's league openers featured last year's El Camino co-champions tangling with the top two De Anza finishers of 2003. While Lynbrook's road trip to take on defending champion Palo Alto ended in a 56-26 disappointment, Homestead managed to win a close 35-33 encounter with visiting Saratoga.

Mandy Wald's 17-point, 14-rebound effort and stout interior defense keyed the Mustangs' win, their second two-point decision over Saratoga this season. Homestead, led by sophomore center Becky Tratter's four blocked shots and junior Melissa Manuel's three, permitted the Falcons just three baskets from inside the three-point arc.

The Mustangs, on the strength of a 44-30 rebounding edge, often held the Falcon offense to just one shot per possession. Wald and Tratter were the rebounding leaders with 11 apiece. Manuel had five rebounds and sophomore Christina Fukumoto grabbed four. Junior Shelly Baxter had six points, six rebounds and three assists. Point guard Jenelle Kitasoe had four rebounds and two assists to go along with six points.

The Mustangs, who edged the Falcons 42-40 in last month's Terra Nova Tournament, survived Saratoga's perimeter shooting (five three-pointers) and a 12-0 free throw disadvantage.

A free throw advantage three nights later at Los Gatos helped Homestead win 50-37 and move to 2-0 in league play. The Mustangs converted 23 shots to Los Gatos' 11 from the foul line, including six by Kitasoe in the fourth quarter to help secure the win. Of Kitasoe's 11 points, seven were free throws. She also had four assists, two rebounds and a steal. Tratter made six free throws, Fukumoto and Wald nailed four each and Manuel had two.

With Wald sitting on the bench for most of the first half with three fouls, Homestead needed some players to step up. Tratter answered the call, scoring nine of her team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter. She also led the Mustangs in rebounds with 13. Wald scored nine, six in the third quarter when the Mustangs stretched their 19-10 halftime lead to 32-21. Manuel and Fukumoto had six points each and junior Sandra Kiel four. Baxter, who pulled down eight rebounds, added two points.

Tratter wasn't the only one who stepped up. Baxter had eight rebounds and Fukumoto seven as the Mustangs pulled down a total of 39. Manuel had three rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. Kiel, who played more than usual because of Wald's foul trouble, jumped off the bench to contribute four rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

Ruby Galupa's squad will try to improve its 14-4 record when it returns home Friday to play Monta Vista. Meanwhile, Fremont will play at Wilcox.

Lady Birds fall in OT

The Firebirds went overtime in its El Camino division opener at Santa Clara before falling 43-41.

Fremont was ahead 21-17 at halftime, but was outscored 8-4 in the third quarter and the game was tied at 25 going into the final quarter. With the score still knotted at 35, Fremont had the last possession in regulation time, but couldn't score. In the extra four-minute period, Santa Clara outscored the Firebirds 8-6 for the win.

Seven players scored for the Firebirds—seniors Shalainie Manuel and Erin Sturm leading the way with nine points apiece. Jessica Moore had seven points, Kelly Bushnell six and Jessica Svoboda five. Aneta Pariaszevski chipped in with four points and freshman Carol Hoang added one.

Homestead boys win opener

After a month of non-league encounters, the boys basketball teams of Homestead High and Fremont began playing for keeps last week. The Mustangs whipped Wilcox 65-51 on Wednesday in its De Anza Division opener, but lost 41-35 at Los Gatos Friday night. Meanwhile, Fremont dropped its only game of the week, 53-42 to Palo Alto.

Junior Mark McLaughlin poured in 22 points in the Mustangs' victory. Senior Domingo Emiano and 6-foot-5 sophomore William Tsai both tallied nine points for the Mustangs. Another sophomore, David Ostrow, scored seven and Shane Wey chipped in with six. Alex Mrozack, a 6-foot-5 junior, and Alan Chen had four points apiece. Min Park canned a three-pointer, and senior Josh Cottrell netted a free throw.

Homestead led Wilcox 30-21 at half, then pulled away in the third quarter with a 17-9 surge to make it 47-30 entering the final period.

Against Los Gatos, McLaughlin again was the scoring leader. The 6-foot-3 guard tallied 16 points. He was followed in the point column by Emiano's seven. Mrozack and Park both scored four, while Tsai, Cottrell and Ronald Jackson all had two.

Firebirds fall

Fremont jumped out to a 13-5 first quarter lead at Palo Alto, but could not hang on. Fremont managed just six points in the second quarter and trailed 24-19 at halftime. The Firebirds pulled to within 36-34 after three quarters, before Palo Alto pulled away. Half of the Firebirds' 16 field goals were three-pointers, but they weren't enough to overtake Palo Alto.

Dan Bergeron's 11 points led Fremont scorers. Lance Turner and Lance Dewitt both scored nine points and Chris Gokey had eight. Kevin Julian buried a three-pointer and Leo Janisse rounded out the scoring with two points. Turner connected on three three-pointers and Gokey drilled two.

Fremont and Homestead prepared for league play with challenging non-league schedules.

Fremont finished the pre-season with a 9-6 record, including a second-place finish at the Gunderson Tournament in San Jose. The Firebirds dumped Marshall of San Francisco 61-53 in the first round and edged the tourney host 47-45 in the semifinals before bowing 60-42 to Aragon of San Mateo in the championship game. Dewitt scored 16 and Bergeron 11 in the title game.

A week earlier, Fremont captured fifth place out of 16 teams in its own event, the Fremont Holiday Tournament. Bergeron, a 6-foot-6 junior, scored 25 points to lead the Firebirds past Jefferson in the game that decided fifth place. Fremont had to go to overtime to win 65-62. Turner and Gokey, also juniors, scored 17 and 13 respectively for the Firebirds. Janisse, a 6-foot-3 freshman center, added eight and Gaurnay Kumar tossed in two.

Homestead finished non-league play with a 63-41 whipping of Santa Teresa. McLaughlin led the way with 21 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Emiano, who scored 20, also connected on a pair of threes. Ostrow tallied nine, all on free throws. Coach Marc Cadet's Mustangs, who blitzed the visiting Saints 23-6 in the first quarter and led 34-12 at halftime, evened their pre-season record at 6-6.