LA coach mystified by sluggish start
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 Photos by Roy Johnson/Special to the Town Crier Los Altos High’s Christine Ngo dribbles by a Homestead player. |
The Los Altos High girls basketball team is off to a 1-8 start, and coach Vern Hubbard is searching for reasons why.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I can’t put my finger on it.”
The Eagles’ inconsistent play could be the biggest culprit.
“The players play hard sometimes and not other times,” Hubbard said. “And they make the same mistakes over and over.”
Los Altos’ lone win came via forfeit; Downtown College Prep didn’t show up for the Nov. 19 season opener because it lacked a coach.
The Eagles’ eighth loss came last Thursday at Homestead, which cruised to a 54-27 victory. Los Altos played “fairly decent in the second half,” according to Hubbard, after trailing by 16 at intermission.
“Homestead is another team we should have beat,” the coach said. “The game should have at least been close.”
A poor first half hurt the Eagles in their previous game as well. Los Altos trailed El Camino 24-4 at halftime and lost 46-21.
“That game we should have beaten them by 10 points, but we didn’t come to play,” Hubbard said of the Dec 13 home game.
Turnovers plagued the Eagles in both games. Hubbard said Los Altos committed 37 turnovers against El Camino and more than 20 versus Homestead.
“We’re turning the ball over way too much,” he said.
The Eagles played Homestead without top scorer Emily Lippe, a 5-foot-8 guard/forward. The sophomore is averaging nearly 10 points per game and has scored in the 20s twice this season.
Hubbard cited point guard Radhika Bhargav and forward Christine Ngo as performing well against Homestead.
“Radhika has played a lot better the last couple of games; it’s good to see her come around,” Hubbard said. “Christine played really well, too. She didn’t score a lot, but she got a lot of rebounds.”
Los Altos is off this week and returns to practice Monday to prepare for league.
“With a week off, maybe we’ll do some soul searching,” Hubbard said.
The Eagles open SCVAL El Camino Division play at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 at rival Mountain View.
“Hopefully, we can do well enough in league to get to CCS,” the coach said.
Los Altos will need to win half its league games to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
MV girls stumble in 2nd
The Spartans, leading 14-10 after the first quarter, were outscored 25-10 in the second.
Kayla VanTil led Mountain View with 16 points.
The Spartans (5-5) host St. Francis at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Pinewood girls cruise
Liz Altmaier tallied 15 points for the Panthers (3-1).
LA boys fall to Wildcats
The host Wildcats topped the Eagles 56-52 Dec. 13.
Los Altos was up 30-25 at halftime, then watched Los Gatos go on a 17-7 run in the third to take the lead.
“I’m pleased with the effort,” Eagles coach James Reilly said. “We played Los Gatos, a De Anza Division team, right to the wire and had a chance to win at the end.”
Los Altos (2-5) returns to action at 7 p.m. Dec. 29 at Lincoln.
MV boys get even
Kevin Metsers scored a game-high 18 points for the Spartans; Terence Willis added 15.
