The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Mustangs, Firebirds trade hoop divisions
By Mike Barnhart
After two tough seasons in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's De Anza Division, the Homestead girls basketball team switched divisions, trading places with Fremont, last year's El Camino champion.
For Homestead, the early El Camino results have been fantastic, five straight wins without a loss. For Fremont, the results have not been fantastic, five losses in a row. None of the Firebirds' five De Anza losses have been by more than 11 points, and three have been tough decisions by four or five.
After going 5-8 in non-league play, the Mustangs chalked up a couple of close victories against El Camino rivals Monta Vista, 55-51, and Saratoga, 46-41. The next three wins were blowouts, 55-27 over Los Altos, 54-24 over Santa Clara and 75-39 over Cupertino.
The Mustangs' triumph against the visiting Pioneers allowed them to maintain a slim one-game lead over Lynbrook and Saratoga. Senior co-captains Kate Mower (23 points) and Elan Kim (17) led the way against Cupertino.
Homestead, 10-8 overall entering a Jan. 24 contest at Lynbrook, has missed senior Cheryl Ichikawa for much of the of the early season. Ichikawa, a freshman on the 2004 team that captured the El Camino championship and reached the Central Coast Section Division II quarterfinals, has been rehabbing an injured knee and finally was able to appear briefly in recent games.
Fremont's frustrating De Anza slate started with a 51-47 defeat to Palo Alto, followed by setbacks to Wilcox 54-44, Gunn 53-42, Milpitas 60-55 and Mountain View 58-54.
The Firebirds hope to pick up their first De Anza win they travel to Los Gatos, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. The Wildcats also started division play 0-5.
Fremont nearly picked up its first win against Mountain View on Jan. 19. The teams were tied at the end of each of the first three quarters, but the Spartans outscored the Firebirds 19-15 in the final period. Fremont senior guard Carol Hoang scored a game high 19 points and senior teammate Kristal Sana tallied 14.
Hannah Wu tallied nine, Amy Chwa had seven, senior Alison Bushnell four and Kaneesha Johnson one for Fremont.
Although Fremont has struggled in its new division, it already has qualified for next month's CCS championship tournament based on its 6-5 non-league record. Teams qualify for the CCS tourney by winning a league championship or compiling at least a .500 record in either the non-league or league portion of their schedules.
Homestead needs to win two of its remaining seven El Camino tilts to qualify.
Novachkov, Scandalis win
Fremont seniors Boris Novachkov and Mark Scandalis both earned individual championships at the 42nd annual Overfelt Classic on Jan. 20.
Novachkov pinned all four of his challengers en route to the 125-pound title. For his efforts, Novachkov was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the lower weight classes (105-132 pounds).
Scandalis also registered four straight pins, while claiming first place in the 135 division.
A week earlier, Scandalis was third and Fremont a team fourth at the Jim Root Classic at West Valley College.
Juniors La Quintin Cathey (130) and Daunte Mills (152) and senior Atchison Brittle (160) also scored third-place medals. Firebird freshman Joe Johnson was fifth at 112.
Sophomore Travis Johnson of The King's Academy reached the 189 final, before losing to Monterey's Eric Hess by fall in the second round. Sophomore teammate Matt Thalin placed fifth at 145.
