Girls’ Roundup : Katella Reaches 3-A Final

Four years ago, the nearest the Katella High School girls’ basketball team came to the big time was playing in the Brea-Olinda summer league. That’s the Brea-Olinda summer league for junior varsity teams.

“We were so bad, so inexperienced,” said Mickey McAulay, Katella coach. “I asked Mark (Trakh, Brea coach) to let us play with the JVs. He did. If we would have tried to play any varsity teams, it would have been a joke.”

But it was no joke Tuesday when Katella defeated Brea-Olinda, 59-56, in overtime in a Southern Section 3-A semifinal at Foothill High School.

Katella advanced to the final against Mission Viejo, which defeated Louisville, 72-56, in the other 3-A semifinal.

Katella’s Serenda Valdez scored a game-high 19 points, and Kelli Johnson had 14. Forward Carrie Egan scored 18 for Brea and Kristen McPhee added 17.

McAulay became the Katella coach four years ago. That team, composed mostly of freshmen, went 1-19 in the regular season. Still, McAulay made the Southern Section finals a goal.

“It was ridiculous at the time,” she said. “But we’ve come so far.”

Katella trailed by 14-13 after the first quarter but outscored Brea, the defending 3-A champion, by 18-11 to take a 31-25 halftime lead.

In the fourth quarter, Katella took a 44-40 lead on Valdez’s jump shot with 6:40 left.

But Katy Swain, a Brea reserve guard, made two free throws, then stole a pass and made a layup to tie the score at 44-44 with 6:01 left.

For nearly six minutes, the teams exchanged baskets. Katella’s Joni Easterly was fouled on a drive with five seconds left and the score tied at 52-52. Easterly was awarded two foul shots but missed each. Brea got the rebound and ran out the clock.

In overtime, Katella point guard Julie Standering scored five points, including a foul shot with 19 seconds to give Katella the 59-56 victory.

Standering was a member of that varsity/junior varsity team four years ago.

“This is for all the teams that were horrible like us,” she said. “This shows all the teams that get beat by 30 points that there is a chance. We got ours.”

Chino 60, Woodbridge 43--Jeanine Jones scored 16 points, 12 in the first half, to lead Chino at Ontario High School. Stephanie Dykstra added 15 points for Chino, which will play Lompoc in the 2-A final. Lompoc defeated Hesperia, 40-36, in the other semifinal.

Mission Viejo 72, Louisville 56--Tricia Stringham scored 23 points and Mission Viejo overcame a halftime deficit at Thousand Oaks. Mission Viejo, which will play Katella in the final, outscored Louisville, 26-12 in the fourth quarter.