Photograph by Robert Scheer
High-scoring Hilary Parker works for two of her team-high 22 points in a 54-35 win over North Salinas in the CCS semifinals. Parker came back with 18 points, but Homestead lost to St. Francis in the CCS Division II finals.
It's been repeated so often it's beginning to sound like an excuse.
But that only makes sense, because it's a darn good one!
The Homestead girls' basketball team had to enter the Central Coast Section Division II tournament without the services of talented senior Brie Ahern.
So that meant that veteran Homestead boss Ernie Dossa had to send his troops to the courts with one less weapon to fire. And what a powerful weapon Ahern has been for the Mustangs over the past few seasons.
The 5-foot-8 senior figured as one of the club's top scorers this winter after coming off of a sensational junior season when she was named to the all-league first team and the all-CCS third team.
So when Ahern went down with a knee injury prior to the postseason, Dossa and his Mustangs had a perfectly good alibi for packing up the wagons and heading home.
But they would do neither. Instead, the Mustangs packed up everything they had and headed to the CCS Division II championship game. And once there, they gave the St. Francis Lancers all they could handle!
Despite the scoring void left in the Mustangs' lineup because of the loss of Ahern, Homestead pounded North Salinas 54-35 in the CCS semifinals, then took St. Francis right to the wire before dropping a 42-41 heartbreaker in the finals.
Because while they might not have had Ahern, they still had Hilary Parker... and Yumi Minn, Yvonne Chen, Eric Morikawa, Michele Wald and Kelly Hadden.
Parker and company managed to pick up the slack for the missing Ahern to lead the Mustangs to the CCS finals and into the Northern California tournament that begins this week.
Parker poured in 40 points in the last two CCS games to lead the Homestead scoring assault. Of course, that didn't come as much of a surprise to Doss and Homestead basketball backers.
Parker, like Ahern, was a returning all-leaguer this winter, and she was an all-CCS second-team pick a year ago. She and Ahern shared team-high scoring honors for the Mustangs all through their outstanding 1996-97 season.
Parker was outstanding in the title game against the Lancers. The 6-foot senior center poured in 18 points and ripped down 13 rebounds, but it wasn't enough for the Lancers. Parker had a three-pointer among her eight field goals.
Wald supported with seven points for the Mustangs and Morikawa popped a pair of threes to finish with six points. Chen and Minn added five points apiece for Homestead. Chen also hit a three.
Homestead opened up a big first-half lead against the Lancers, outscoring St. Francis 13-8 in each of the first two periods to take a 10-point lead at the half, 26-16. But the bigger Lancers wore down the Mustangs in the second half by topping them 11-8 in the third and 15-7 in the fourth to win by one.
Dossa knew going into the season that his Mustangs would have trouble against bigger teams like St. Francis, even back when Ahern was healthy.
"We will have a hard time matching up against big teams like Monta Vista and St. Francis," he said back in the preseason. As it turns out, Dossa appears almost prophetlike, since his Mustangs finished behind Monta Vista in the rugged De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, then behind St. Francis at CCS.
The Mustangs had earned a berth in the finals with a solid 54-35 win over North Salinas in the semifinals.
Parker pumped in 22 points to lead all Homestead scorers in the win. Minn and Chen joined Parker in double digits with 10 points apiece, both hitting a pair of three-pointers.
Morikawa canned a pair of threes to finish with six points, Wald had four points and Hadden hit two.
The Mustangs were in command most of the way in this one. Homestead led 13-10 at the first buzzer and 28-17 at the half before outscoring North Salinas 14-6 in the third quarter to take a 19-pointlead into the fourth--its ultimate margin of victory.
Homestead will now take it lofty 24-4 season record off to the NorCal playoffs.
The Mustangs won't be alone. Monta Vista also moves on to the NorCal playoffs after finishing second to Mitty in the CCS Division I playoffs.
It was a tough finish to a magnificent CCS season for the Matadors, who had just one loss in more than 25 games heading to the title game. Monta Vista's only loss prior to the CCS finals was a league loss to Homestead. The Mats are now 25-2 after falling to Mitty.
But while the loss may have spoiled the Matadors' CCS finish, it didn't spoil their season--or ruin their hopes for the NorCal tournament.
Monta Vista will move on to the NorCals, where just two years ago they won a title after finishing second in the CCS tournament.
Still, the Matadors would like to be advancing as the section champions. But their comeback came up short against the Monarchs last week.
The Mats found themselves trailing by eight at the half, 30-22, after getting outscored 14-13 in the first quarter and 16-9 in the second. Monta Vista matched Mitty's 12 points in the third period, then cut the lead by three in the fourth, 13-10, only to come up five points short.
Annie Garrison did her part. The 6-foot-1 senior center pumped in 17 points to lead all Monta Vista scorers in the game.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.