December 27, 2007

SPORTS

Leland girls lose to Mountain View in basketball

By Gary van den Heuvel
Sports Writer

The holiday season didn’t bring much joy to the Leland High School girls’ basketball team, which suffered a second-half collapse in the first round of the Del Mar tournament, losing to the Mountain View Spartans 52-30 on Saturday.

“Tournaments are tough because you don’t really get a chance to scout your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, said Leland head coach Ana Patejdl, whose Chargers fell to a 1-6 record this season.

The first quarter featured a lot of defense, turnovers and physical play for both teams. Leland held the lead briefly at 4-2 after a Jennifer Ricco basket, but trailed 9-6 at the end of the quarter.

Leland’s best sequence of the game came early in the second quarter. Two perimeter buckets by junior Kelly Nakamura (the second of which was a three-pointer), followed by junior point guard Ana Castillo’s dribble-drive and short bank shot, gave the surging Chargers a 13-9 lead.

But the surge ended there. Mountain View outscored Leland 15-5 before halftime. Natalie Warmbrodt’s dominant presence in the low post combined with the shooting of Aly Greenberg and Emma Eline, allowed the Spartans to dominate the rest of the half, although the score was a competitive 24-18 at the break.

In the third quarter, Mountain View continued to inch away, playing stifling, pressing defense, opening up their first 10-point lead on a Mirjana Ivanic lay-up, and as the fourth quarter started, the game was becoming more and more one-sided; yet the 34-25 score was certainly not unreachable, if Leland could get momentum.

Unfortunately the team could not, and the Spartans started building an avalanche of points. The inside low-post presence of both Greenberg, who led all scorers with 14 points, and Warmbrodt, who had 11, was ultimately too much. Leland at least got the last word with a 3-pointer by junior Grace Tang.

“We’re a young team,” said Patedjil. “We’re going to have to learn from this and improve.”

Pioneer’s sweeper Ryan Nelson hits the ball with his head during their game with Willow Glen on Friday Dec. 21 in San Jose. Photo by Dan Miranda

Pioneer soccer vs. Willow Glen

The Mustangs lost a soccer game to the Rams 2-1 after surrendering their 1-0 half-time lead. Coming off their first victory of the season, the Mustangs fell to 1-9-1 for the season. “You would have thought they [Willow Glen] won CCS by the way they reacted to the victory and the mini celebration,” said head coach Nick Hoffman. The lone goal for the Mustangs came off the foot of foreward Francisco Figueroa in the 20th minute of the first half from an assist from Francisco Martinez. Pioneer had 7-shots on goal for the game. “When I look at where we are now from a month ago, we have improved a lot, and what has improved is the play of our mid-fielders,” said Hoffman. “Another reason for the improvement is the play of our sweeper, Ryan Nelson. His play has kept us in games,” said Hoffman.

Veritas Christian loses at the buzzer

Steven Ybarra hit a jump shot in the lane at the buzzer to lead Union City Academy to a 59–57 victory over Veritas Christian Academy of Campbell on Friday, Dec. 14. Ybarra scored 37 points in the contest including five three-point balls to lead all scorers. Union City improved their record to 1-1 while Veritas fell to 0–3 on the season.

Veritas was down 23–21 at halftime and trailed by as much as eight in the second half, but with just over two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Garrison Hardie’s three-point basket from the quarter gave the Lions the advantage. The lead changed several times in the last two minutes and was tied with 15 seconds to go when Union City took time out to set up a final play.

Veritas had one foul to give and fouled Ybarra as he drove to the basket with 4.8 seconds on the clock. Union City took the ball out of bounds, inbounded to Ybarra who proceeded to drive the lane into Veritas’s collapsing defense. Ybarra double pumped just inside the free throw line and put the ball off the glass and in as the buzzer sounded.

“We played a great basketball game,” said Veritas coach Greg Hardie. “The guys did everything I asked them to do on the court. The Union City kid just had a great game and hit a difficult shot at the buzzer. We are gaining valuable experience and confidence. I was very pleased with our teamwork and our guys’ individual effort on the floor. This was by far our best performance of the season.”

Chris Wallace had a fine all-around game for the Lions, scoring a career-high 26 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Garrison Hardie added 11 points, Gabriel Flores scored 10 points, Alex Mankarios scored eight points and Adam Flores scored two points to round out the scoring for Veritas.

High School Sports Schedule Dec. 28 – Jan. 3

Leland

Friday - Girls varsity basketball at Del Mar tournament, TBA

Saturday – Boys’ soccer vs. Alumni, 12 p.m.

Tuesday – Boys’ frosh/soph soccer vs. Pioneer, 3:15 p.m.

Thursday – Boys’ varsity basketball vs. Harbor, 7 p.m.
Thursday – Boys’ frosh/soph soccer at Yerba Buena, 3:15 p.m.

Pioneer

Friday - Boys’ varsity basketball Pioneer Holiday Classic, TBA

Saturday - Boys’ varsity basketball Pioneer Holiday Classic, TBA

For more information about Leland and Pioneer sporting events, go to:

Pioneer Athletics: www.phsathletics.com
Leland Athletics: www.lelandathletics.com
Blossom Valley Athletic League: www.bval.org

Sports Briefs

Almaden Valley Girls’ Softball League holds Sign-ups
The Almaden Valley Girls’ Softball League is holding sign-ups. Our league is a Santa Clara County-wide League and available to all Santa Clara County girls which means we are not restricted by territory. The age range is 5 to 16 years.  We welcome all applicable ages and every skill level.  We will be holding sign-ups on the following dates at Greystone Elementary School, 6982 Shearwater Drive in San Jose.:

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 9, from 6 to 9 p.m.

For more information, please visit our website at www.avgsl.org.


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