SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : This Outcome Is Not a Done Deal : Girls: Although Woodbridge beat Brea Olinda by 18 in December, regional title game will be intriguing.

There was no doubt who was better on Dec. 23--the night Woodbridge ended Brea Olinda’s 65-game girls’ basketball winning streak. But there is some doubt about whether that 18-point victory was truly reflective of both teams’ ability.

Woodbridge won, 51-33, but the circumstances surrounding that dominating performance haven’t convinced everyone in the coaching community that today’s 1 p.m. Southern California Regional championship is a done deal.

This is still an intriguing matchup.

“I think Brea has a chance,” said Dave White, who coached Edison against both teams. “It’s going to be much closer than the game in December. There was a lot of pressure earlier on the Brea players and their coach (first-year Coach Jeff Sink). Winning (the Southern Section Division II-A) championship took a lot off their shoulders. Now, it’s like icing on the cake for them.

“To win three big games in a row and be on a huge emotional, physical and mental high is extremely difficult at any level, let alone 15- and 16-year-old girls. You’re going to see two great programs with great coaches and a lot of pride battle to the end.”

Call it an excuse if you want, but Brea Olinda was coming off successive games against two teams ranked among the top 10 nationally when it first played Woodbridge. The Ladycats beat Atherton Sacred Heart (then ranked seventh by USA Today), 57-56, on Dec. 21, and followed with a 55-40 victory over Clovis West (sixth) the next night. Then, Woodbridge.

Three nights, three teams ranked then among the state’s top seven (and currently among the state’s top four).

The Warriors, meanwhile, beat unranked L.A. Washington, 71-42, then Chino, 57-40. The level of competition was vastly different. Later in the tournament, Sacred Heart beat L.A. Washington, 68-46, and Clovis West beat Chino, 42-32.

Sacred Heart and Clovis West are still playing basketball. L.A. Washington and Chino are not.

The ramifications of Woodbridge’s decisive victory over the four-time defending State champs? The Warriors were immediately ranked 15th nationally and No. 1 in the state. Ten days after that victory, they lost to Esperanza--their only loss of the year.

Woodbridge is still No. 1 in the state, No. 15 nationally; Brea Olinda is No. 6 in the state.

Mater Dei Coach Mary Hauser has played both--Woodbridge in a scrimmage in which her Monarchs were dominated, and Brea Olinda in a nonleague game that Mater Dei won, 62-36.

She thinks Brea Olinda’s 6-foot-2 center Dawn Metz is the key: “They go how she goes.”

“Brea might have been worn out by that third game, but you can’t take anything away from Woodbridge,” Hauser said. “They’re a big, physical team; their size and strength wears on you. It will come down to Woodbridge’s size vs. Brea’s speed.”

Mission Hills Alemany Coach Melissa Hearlihy has lost to both teams this past week, 53-45 to Woodbridge in the Division II-AA title game, and a second time to Brea Olinda, 56-52, in the regional semifinal.

“I think Metz might have trouble with (6-foot-4 Angela) Burgess because she’s bigger,” Hearlihy said. “I think it will be a great game; whoever wants to win and go to Oakland is going to win.”

Which is another way of saying whichever team makes fewer mistakes.

Edison lost its first game of the year, 65-47, to Woodbridge, and its last game, 79-63, to Brea Olinda in the Section semifinals. White has followed both teams all year.

“If Brea can hit their outside shots early, I think they can win,” White said. “If they’re on, I think they will win. But if their outside shooting’s not on, I don’t think they have a chance.

“Woodbridge has been playing great defense lately--look at their victory over Alemany and Marina (44-42). But they haven’t been scoring a lot of points, either.

“A lot of people have already written Brea off and sent Woodbridge to the State championship, but I think it’s going to be a close game. I don’t think anybody’s going to win by 18.

“The winner will be the State champion--that’s my prediction.”