SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Brea-Olinda Has to Rally to Advance

A team is said to be only as strong as its weakest link.

Brea-Olinda High School’s basketball team found out that even its weak link was plenty sturdy in the Southern California Division III Regional girls’ basketball championship game Saturday morning in the Sports Arena.

Allison Bickel, the only Lady Cat starter who doesn’t routinely score in double figures, made two free throws with 26 seconds left to play to tie the score at 46.

Tammy Blackburn then hit the game-winning free throw with 1.3 seconds remaining to give Brea-Olinda a 47-46 victory and its second consecutive Southern California regional championship.

Brea-Olinda, 33-0 and ranked fourth in the nation, will defend its State Division III title against Northern California champion Auburn Placer on Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum.

“There are very few weaknesses on their team,” Palos Verdes Coach Wendell Yoshida said. “They say Allison’s their weakest player, but she gets on the line and knocks two free throws down.”

Bickel had rebounded an Aimee McDaniel miss, but couldn’t make the follow shot. She did, however, draw the foul.

“When I missed that easy layup, I just knew I had to put the free throws in,” Bickel said.

She did, getting her fourth and fifth points.

Palos Verdes then brought the ball upcourt and worked it around before Blackburn knocked it from Lisa Humphreys’ hands. There was a scramble for the ball and the officials whistled Humphreys for a foul with 1.3 seconds left to play.

“It’s a shame it came down to a free throw with 1.3 seconds,” Yoshida said. “If we had rolled over someone and flattened them out I could see (it) . . . but we had our chances.”

The last chance came after Blackburn made what proved to be the winning free throw. She missed the second and Palos Verdes guard Susan Wilhite threw up a 70-foot shot that fell short as time ran out.

Palos Verdes executed its game plan almost flawlessly until the fourth quarter when the Sea Kings turned the ball over down the stretch. The Sea Kings looked as if they were on the verge of avenging a 50-33 loss to Brea-Olinda in the Southern Section 3-AA championship game 10 days ago.

With three starters at least 6-foot on their front line, the Sea Kings’ zone was able to neutralize Brea-Olinda’s inside game and pressure the Lady Cats’ perimeter shooters.

Palos Verdes also put a dent in Brea-Olinda’s transition game and tied the score, 27-27, at halftime.

The Sea Kings trailed by three at one point, but pulled ahead, 36-35, in the third quarter when Humphreys had seven points and four rebounds.

When Humphreys drove the left side of the lane and sank a scoop shot to put Palos Verdes ahead, 40-35, with about seven minutes to play, a previously unthinkable thought occurred: maybe Brea-Olinda can be beaten.

The Lady Cats, working on a 54-game winning streak, last lost in December, 1988 to Cony, Me., in the Christ the King Tournament at New York.

With the help of six Palos Verdes turnovers in the fourth quarter, the Lady Cats fought back, outscoring Palos Verdes, 9-4, to tie the score at 44 on Jody Anton’s jumper with a minute to play.

Humphreys, who scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half, then took the ball upcourt and sank a baseline jump shot to give Palos Verdes the lead with 47 seconds to play. McDaniel drove the other way and missed, setting up Bickel’s free throws.

Neither Blackburn (11 points) nor McDaniel (15 points) had great shooting days, making 11 of 31 shots combined.

“I’m really impressed with their defense,” said McDaniel, last year’s Division III player of the year. “Usually against a zone I can penetrate or something, but they had me everywhere I went.”

Perhaps the biggest difference the second time around was the play of Humphreys. When the teams met for the Southern Section title, Blackburn held Humphreys to five points on two-of-18 shooting. Saturday, Humphreys was six of 13 from the field and made six of nine free throws.

“To come back after losing by 17 and to come back a week later and regroup is a credit to these girls,” Yoshida said.

McDaniel thought Brea-Olinda had some trouble getting motivated for their fifth meeting, including three summer league games, against Palos Verdes (29-6).

“Mentally, they were more prepared,” McDaniel said. “We were like, ‘Oh, we’ve played them four times already,’ and we kind of fell a little bit and they were really psyched up.

“But at halftime when the score was tied, I think that woke us up.”