BREA-OLINDA GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Lady Cats Give Up Lead, but Hang On to Beat Gahr in Overtime

The Brea-Olinda girls’ basketball team defeated Gahr, 53-51, in overtime Saturday night in the championship game of its own tournament.

The Lady Cats blew a 43-30 lead at the end of three quarters when Gahr scored 19 points in the fourth quarter. Aileen Osato’s three-point basket with 44 seconds to play tied the game at 49-49 and sent the game into overtime.

The three-point shot was the only basket Osato made in the game.

Brea-Olinda (8-0) managed only four points in the extra period, one basket by forward Katie Bauer and another by center Jinelle Williams with 18 seconds remaining, but they were all the Lady Cats needed.

“We couldn’t give up in overtime after we gave up the lead,” Brea-Olinda Coach Mark Trakh said. “Gahr is a pretty tough team. We are just trying to build up for the La Habra game (Jan. 12). We might show up for that one.”

Williams led the Lady Cats in scoring with 20 points, followed by forward Jody Anton with 10. Anton, who played with a badly sprained ankle, provided much-needed punch to complement Williams’ offensive output.

“She’s (Anton) the best player in Orange County,” Trakh said. “She played on one ankle tonight.”

Gahr (6-1) was led by Allison Arredondo with 13 points. Center Shemekia Brown scored 12 points and guard Kris Waldorf added 10.

Both teams played sloppily at times; Gahr turned the ball over 12 times and Brea-Olinda 16 times, mostly in the fourth quarter.

Brea had leads of 7-0, 9-3 and led, 21-11, with 3:50 left in the second quarter, before Gahr rallied late in the game.

Gahr also could not find the shooting touch in the early going, connecting on only six of 31 shots in the first half. Brea-Olinda made nine of 22 shots from the field in the first half and 18 of 45 in the game.

Freshman guard Nicole Erickson had nine points and forward Lea Raff had six points for Brea-Olinda.

In other tournament games:

Chaffey 50, Esperanza 48--Center Tamika Phillips led all scorers with 32 points to pace Chaffey (7-1) in the fifth-place game. Forward Kerry Edwards led Esperanza (6-2) with 14 points.

Tustin 67, El Toro 60--Forward Shari Needham scored 25 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Tillers (7-2) in the consolation finals. Center Christine Garner grabbed 14 rebounds and guard Wanda Sequeira had nine assists for Tustin.

Tracy Heiser scored 22 points for for El Toro (4-3). Guard Dana Lind contributed 12 points, including a pair of three-point shots.