THE PREPS : Brea-Olinda Makes Coach a Believer : Division II-AA Girls: Lady Cats defeat Ventura, 50-42, for their third section title. Cougars lose for second time.

Heading into the finals of the Southern Section Division II-AA against Ventura, Brea-Olinda Coach Mark Trakh figured the squad with the hot shooting hand from the outside would win.

His intuition was on the mark.

Brea-Olinda (29-1) took advantage of clutch shooting by forward Jody Anton and center Jinelle Williams down the stretch for a 50-42 victory over Ventura (23-4) in front of 2,700 at Cal Poly Pomona.

Anton led the Lady Cats with 18 points; Williams had 16.

For Brea-Olinda, it was the third consecutive section title but first in Division II-AA. The Lady Cats won the Division III-AA championship last year and the Division III-A title the season before.

Ventura came up empty-handed for the second year in a row in a section championship game. The Cougars lost to Muir, 56-49, in the Division IV-AA (now II-AA) final last season.

The victory advances Brea-Olinda into this week’s Division II Southern California Regionals.

Both teams struggled until the fourth quarter, when Brea-Olinda held Ventura scoreless until the three-minute mark and outscored the Cougars, 15-6, to cement the victory.

Williams had six of those 15 points and Anton contributed five. But it was Brea-Olinda’s defense that impressed Trakh.

“We did real well in the second half defending the motion offense with our straight man-to-man (defense),” Trakh said.

That wasn’t the cause in the early going. After falling behind, 6-0, the Lady Cats bounced back with an eight-point run at the end of the period to take an 18-13 lead. Williams scored 10 of her points in the quarter and Anton added eight.

But Brea-Olinda went into a shooting slump in the second quarter, making only two of 13 field-goal attempts and scoring only four points while Ventura charged back for a 23-22 halftime edge.

Junior forward Denise Rea, who had seven points in the first quarter, had five in the second period, including one of her two three-pointers. She finished with 14 points. Ventura’s senior guard Cori Herman had 19.

The teams traded baskets throughout the third quarter, but Brea took a 36-35 edge on Anton’s 10-foot jumper as time ran out.