Girls’ basketball: Ladycat tournament begins

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Some of the top teams in the Southland open play today/Monday and Tuesday and continue through Saturday as the Brea Olinda Ladycat Classic gets under way.

The tournament is traditionally the toughest of the first-week tournaments.

For the host team, ranked No. 5 in The Times’ preseason ranking, the tournament should be highlighted by Coach Jeff Sink’s 600th career victory. He comes into this season only two shy of the milestone.

He coached previously in Alaska and, since the 1994-95 season, at Brea, where he took over for John Hattrup after the Ladycats’ 33-0 season.

Last year’s Division I-AA runner-up to Long Beach Poly and a State Division II finalist, Brea opens its tournament against Venice today/Monday.

The tournament schedule, courtesy stats guru Eric Maddy:

Today/Monday (Nov. 26)
Gahr vs. Long Beach Wilson, 3 p.m.
Narbonne vs. Riverside Poly, 4:30 p.m.
Windward vs. Los Osos, 6 p.m.
Brea Olinda vs. Venice, 7:30 p.m.
Canyon Springs vs. Keppel, 9 p.m.

Tuesday (Nov. 27)
Mira Costa vs. Tucson (Ariz.), 4:30 p.m.
El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge vs. St. Paul, 7:30 p.m.
Hanford vs. Harvard-Westlake, 9 p.m.

Championship semifinals are slated for 7:30 and 9 p.m. Thursday. The championship game will be Saturday at 8 p.m.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image by Christine Cotter/Los Angeles Times