Brea-Olinda Rolls Despite Off Night

SANTA ANA —  It certainly wasn’t vintage Brea-Olinda High School basketball, what with a make-shift lineup used throughout the game and state Division III player of the year Aimee McDaniel on the bench for three quarters.

But even off-speed Lady Cat basketball is better than most. It was good enough to defeat Foothill, 51-33, in a Southern Section 3-AA girls’ quarterfinal game Thursday night at Foothill. Brea-Olinda (28-0), which extended its school-record victory streak to 50, will play fourth-seeded Alemany (20-6) in the semifinals Saturday.

Brea-Olinda, the division’s top-seeded team and the defending champion in the 3-A and the state, forced Foothill (15-10) into 22 turnovers by getting the ball inside to Jinelle Williams and using a full-court pressure defense.

Williams led all scorers with 23 points. She had nine in the first quarter as Brea took a 13-6 lead.

Foothill’s game plan was to handle Brea-Olinda’s pressure, stop the Lady Cats’ outside shooters and have a good shooting night itself. Well, one of three isn’t bad.

With Foothill pressuring the perimeter, point guard McDaniel resting an ankle she sprained in practice two days ago and Brea Coach Mark Trakh mixing starters and reserves freely, Brea-Olinda got consistent outside shooting from only one player--Tammy Blackburn. Blackburn made six of 11 from the field and finished with 12 points.

“We were trying to keep them from scoring on the outside and they scored all those baskets on the inside,” Foothill Coach Sheila Adams said.

Foothill also had difficulty against Brea’s press. The Lady Knights turned the ball over six times in the second quarter. Brea-Olinda took advantage, outscoring Foothill, 20-6, to take a 33-12 lead at the half. Brea-Olinda held Foothill scoreless for the first 5 1/4 minutes of the quarter.

Both coaches substituted often in the second half. Adams played all 11 of her players. Shannon Ebert was the only Foothill player in double figures with 10 points on five of eight shooting.

“I thought we did a good job,” said Adams, who coached Foothill to the 3-A championship in 1985. “I was very pleased except for that second quarter where we turned the ball over a bunch of times. They made us go faster than what we could play.”

Trakh did not start regulars Jody Anton and Allison Bickell, saying, “I wanted to see how they would do coming off the bench.

“We won the game by 18 points and everybody played. The continuity wasn’t there because we used so many different players.”