GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : No. 1 Brea-Olinda Edges La Habra

The long-awaited clash between La Habra, The Times’ top-rated team in the preseason poll, and Brea-Olinda, the current No. 1 team, unfolded Saturday night and more than lived up to expectations.

A crowd of about 1,000 at the Brea-Olinda gym saw the Lady Cats (14-0) defeat La Habra, 53-52, in a nonleague game.

The Highlanders (9-4) came within inches of winning the game when forward Leslie Ferguson’s shot from under the basket with one second remaining--and under heavy defensive pressure from Brea-Olinda’s Nicole Erickson--bounced on the rim and fell off.

La Habra Coach John Koehler, however, thought Erickson’s defense was a bit too tight on the play.

“We should have had a foul right here at the end,” he said. “We had it set exactly the way we wanted it.”

Moments earlier, Erickson had a chance to ice the game when she was sent to the foul line to attempt a one-and-one with eight seconds left and the Lady Cats leading, 53-52. But the freshman point guard was called for stepping over the line on her first attempt and La Habra called a timeout to set up Ferguson’s final shot.

Both teams held sizable leads, but went into the final quarter tied, 41-41.

La Habra trailed, 5-2, the first two minutes of the game, but went on a 10-2 run to take a 12-7 lead with 2:10 to play in the first period. Center Zrinka Kristich had six of her team’s 14 points in the quarter.

But Brea-Olinda went on a 14-2 run at the end of the second quarter to take a 29-21 lead at the half. Three of the Lady Cat baskets came after steals and two on offensive rebounds by forward Jody Anton (19 points) and Erickson (19 points, including four three-pointers).

Ferguson took over in the third quarter, scoring 12 points to bring La Habra back from deficits of as many as 13 points (36-23). She finished the game with 19 points.

“I thought Ferguson played awfully well,” Brea-Olinda Coach Mark Trakh said. “Those three kids (Ferguson, Zrinka and Ana Kristich) are legitimate college players.”

Brea-Olinda opened the lead to 52-43 with 3:47 left on a three-pointer by Erickson and a pair of free throws by Anton, but a layup by forward Ana Kristich, a free throw by Ferguson and four free throws by Zrinka Kristich, who finished with 14 points, cut the Lady Cat edge to 52-50.

Center Jinelle Williams then converted the front end of a one-plus-one with 1:28 remaining for Brea-Olinda’s last point before Zrinka Kristich scored La Habra’s final basket on an offensive rebound 10 seconds later.

In other nonleague girls’ basketball:

Woodbridge 59, Mater Dei 39--Deanna Harry scored 29 points on 13-for-16 shooting and had 15 rebounds for Woodbridge (12-3).

Ocean View 40, Newport Harbor 29--Nikki Vivion had 12 points and six rebounds and Kristy Bell added 11 points and eight rebounds for host Ocean View (11-7). Jenni Hall had 10 points for Newport Harbor (6-8).