Gina Sosa; Hueneme High School Graduate

Services are scheduled this week for Gina Sosa, a 20-year-old Oxnard resident who died Saturday in an auto accident on California 126 near Piru.

Sosa graduated from Hueneme High School in 1992 and excelled in basketball, making the girl’s varsity team her sophomore year, said her aunt, Veronica Diaz of Oxnard. Sosa played three years for the basketball team before a knee injury sidelined her as a senior.

She first began playing team basketball in the fifth grade, joining an all-boys squad at the Hueneme Boys and Girls Club, said her mother, Genevieve Sosa. Her daughter also played softball, but enjoyed basketball more, Genevieve Sosa said.

In addition, she was known for extending a helping hand to others in need, family members said.

“She was a really caring person,” her mother said. “She was always happy-go-lucky and had a joy for life.”

Diaz said her niece loved the outdoors and being around some of her younger relatives.

“She was a kid at heart,” Diaz said. “We’ll all remember her playing with the little ones at family gatherings. . . . She was never too old for her little cousins.”

Gina Sosa was killed Saturday evening when her pickup veered into an oncoming car, authorities said. Neither alcohol nor drugs appeared to play a role in the crash, the California Highway Patrol said.

In addition to her mother and aunt, Sosa is survived by her father, Edward Sosa; three sisters, Jeanette, Gennifer and Cece, and her grandparents, Miguel Diaz, Edward Sosa Sr. and Cecelia Sosa. All live in Oxnard.

Services have been tentatively scheduled Wednesday; the family requests that the Joseph A. Reardon Mortuary in Oxnard be contacted for the time.