NOTES AND QUOTES for a Wednesday in the Napa Valley:

Heather Highshoe led the Cal State Stanislaus women’s basketball team with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting from three-point land, but the Warriors lost their California Collegiate Athletic Association game to Humboldt State Friday in Arcata, 77-43.

Highshoe, a Napa High School graduate and transfer from Sierra College-Rocklin, also had two assists in 16 minutes.

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Pacific Union College Prep forward Tyler Thesman is averaging 29.8 points per game, good for 18th in the country and fourth in the state for boys basketball.

Thesman has scored 596 points in 20 games and is shooting 51 percent from the field for the Falcons (17-3), who play as a freelance team in the CIF North Coast Section.

His season high is 40 points, which he has attained in games against Lower Lake and Tomales. He is also averaging 16.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.

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Natalie La Rochelle of Napa turned in a very good performance in her final home meet for the UC Berkeley women’s swimming team Saturday.

Competing against visiting Stanford in the last dual meet of the season at Spieker Aquatics Complex, La Rochelle was second in the 200-yard individual medley with a personal-best time of 2:01.98.

Stanford finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke, but La Rochelle, a Vintage graduate, swam a personal-best time of 1:03.66 for fifth place.

She was also fifth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 breaststroke.

Stanford won the meet, 162-129.

The Pacific-10 Conference Championships are Feb. 25-28 in Federal Way, Wash.

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Looking back on his Stage 1 win Sunday from Davis to Santa Rosa in the Amgen Tour of California, Francisco Mancebo of Rock Racing said: “The crowds were amazing; it was like the Tour de France.”

Riders and fans alike braved very tough conditions — rain, wind and cold temperatures.

The cyclists rode through Lake Berryessa, Pope Valley, Angwin, Deer Park and Calistoga.

Robert Gesink, the best young rider leader of Stage 1 who is with Rabobank, said: “When you ride slowly, you get even colder, which is why you suffer the most. So the best thing is to start riding faster.”

The 107.6-mile stage from Davis to Santa Rosa took the riders through the scenic settings of Lake Berryessa and the Napa Valley before heading into downtown Santa Rosa. Motivated to attack by weather conditions, Mancebo left the field behind in the first half-hour of the race, a move that eventually brought him the stage victory.

The Tour of California is the largest cycling event in the country. It’s a Tour de France-style cycling road race, presented by AEG, that challenges the world’s top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding course that finishes in San Diego County.

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Tomas Donnelly is batting .500 (4-for-8) with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored for Cal State Stanislaus, which is riding an eight-game winning streak and received its highest-ever national ranking at the NCAA Division II level Monday, coming in at No. 2 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.

After opening the season with a 3-1 loss to defending West Region champion Sonoma State, the Warriors have had back-to-back four-game sweeps at Warrior Field in Turlock over St. Martin’s and Central Washington, both of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Donnelly played baseball at Vintage and Napa Valley College.

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Sophomore left-hander Matt Leonard will be the Saturday starter in the regular rotation for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to open the 2009 baseball season.

Leonard, a former Justin-Siena star, missed the 2008 campaign with an elbow injury which required Tommy John surgery.

Leonard is joined on the Cal Poly team by Mark DeVincenzi, a pitcher who also starred for Justin-Siena. DeVincenzi was 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA in 13 appearances last year.

The Mustangs open the season at home against 2003 national champion Rice in a three-game series starting Friday.

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Napa cyclist Lucas Euser, riding for Garmin-Slipstream, placed eighth overall in the Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia.

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Ryan Kostecka started in center field and was 2-for-3 with a walk in Lewis & Clark College’s 12-3 nonconference baseball loss Sunday to Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Kostecka is a Napa High graduate and also plays football for Lewis & Clark — which is located in Portland, Ore. — as a wide receiver. Kostecka was named to the All-Northwest Conference Offensive Honorable Mention list for football last year.

He was second for Lewis & Clark in receiving with 30 catches totaling 631 yards, a 21.0-yard average, and three touchdowns. Kostecka averaged 70.1 yards per game.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.