Brea Plays Giant-Killer Again in Two Overtimes

The Brea-Olinda High School girls’ basketball team made six of six free throws in double overtime to defeat nationally ranked Los Angeles Washington, 65-61, in the championship game of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions Friday night.

Brea (13-0) took a 59-57 lead in the second overtime on Aimee McDaniel’s baseline drive for a layup and never trailed again. Washington proceeded to turn the ball over three times, sent Brea to the line three times and missed a free throw and the front end of a one-and-one down the stretch.

“Those Brea kids, they gutted it out,” Brea Coach Mark Trakh said. “That was the No. 1 (Morningside) and No. 14 (Washington) teams in the country they beat,” he said of Thursday’s semifinal victory over Morningside and Friday’s victory.

Brea did not look as though it had too much left after upsetting Morningside and 6-5 star Lisa Leslie in the semifinal. The Wildcats missed eight of their first nine shots and trailed 15-11 after a quarter.

In the first half, Brea shot eight of 25 from the field and was fortunate to trail by only 27-22.

The Wildcats failed to stop the penetration of Washington guards Detra Lockhart and Remitha Houston, who each scored six points, primarily on transition baskets.

They also couldn’t stop forward Charisse Sampson, who owned the offensive boards with six in the first half to go along with 12 first-half points.

The match-up between Brea, the defending state Division III champion, and Washington, the defending Los Angeles City champion, figured to revolve around the teams’ highly touted guards: Tammy Blackburn and state player of the year McDaniel for Brea, and city player of the year Lockhart and Houston for Washington.

Washington got the best of the match-up early. The Generals used a triangle and two defense, with their guards playing man-to-man on Brea’s tandem and a three-player zone sagging on center Jinelle Williams. The special defense disrupted Brea’s offense in the first half. Williams picked up three fouls and Blackburn was one for seven from the field.

The problem for Washington was that Jody Anton helped pick up the slack by hitting four of seven shots and collecting 10 points in the first half.

In the second half, Blackburn was still cold, and Brea never quite figured out how to keep Sampson off the boards, but the Wildcats did hold her to five second-half points.

‘She’s (Sampson) a super player,” Trakh said. “But she was quiet in the fourth quarter wasn’t she? . . . Jody Anton.”

Behind Anton’s defense of Sampson and her offense, and the leadership of point guard McDaniel, the Wildcats took their first lead of the game, 49-47, on two Anton free throws with just over two minutes to play in regulation.

Brea got a little help from Washington. “We were nine of 21 free throwing and it was even worse than that because a lot were the front ends of one-and-ones,” Washington Coach Phil Chase said.

Brea had a chance to win in regulation. With the score tied, 51-51, and time running out, Blackburn dribbled the length of court but missed a layup.

Blackburn had another chance when she went to the line with two seconds remaining in the first overtime and the score tied at 57. She missed both shots, sending the game into the decisive second overtime period.

McDaniel ended the game with 18 points and Anton added 20. The two, along with Blackburn, were named to the all-tournament team.

Sampson, who was voted to the all-tournament team, scored 19, Lockhart had 17 and Houston scored 10 points for Washington.

“They said they had the best guards; we said we had the best guards,” Anton said after the game. “It was a face-off and we showed them.”

In another tournament game:

El Toro 71, St. Joseph 49--Led by center-forward Sara Bone, who hit 10 of 14 shots for 21 points, the Chargers shot 78% from the field to win the Group II consolation championship over St. Joseph of Santa Maria. Danielle Silva scored 16 and Karie Yoshioka added 14 for El Toro, which led, 43-20, at halftime.