SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Miller Makes Her Presence Felt--Finally

It first looked as if it might be a frustrating day for Kiyoko Miller. The Brea Olinda junior, shackled by early foul trouble, was chewing her nails on the bench while watching her teammates try to break free from Pasadena Muir in the Southern Section Division II-A girls’ championship game Saturday at the Pyramid.

Miller would miss all of the second quarter, and more than three minutes in the fourth. Although the Ladycats’ leading scorer this year (12.8), she wasn’t looking much for her shot either, taking one attempt and going scoreless in the first half.

But when Brea Olinda needed her to assert herself and give the team a final spark, Miller responded.

She finished with eight points, all of them in the final 2 minutes 17 seconds, helping Brea--last year’s III-AA titlist--to a seventh consecutive section championship, 55-43. Her biggest basket was the first one in that stretch, an 18-footer from the top of the key that gave Brea Olinda an eight-point lead.

Miller followed with another huge play--stealing a Mustangs’ pass near midcourt and going in for an uncontested layup with 1:02 remaining to put the Ladycats ahead, 51-43.

“I had just told myself that the second half was a whole new half,” said Miller, whose only miss in the final quarter came at the buzzer. “Play like we were 10 points down (instead of having a 26-21 lead).

“We felt it would be a close game. They were kind of hard to defend because they’re very quick. And I didn’t take many shots early; I just felt I had better opportunities in the fourth quarter.”

Brea Coach Jeff Sink said if Muir had taken the lead in the second quarter--something they never did in the game--he would have played Miller more. But with two early fouls, he wanted to play it safe.

“I think she is one of the better players in the state,” Sink said. “She just wreaks havoc on the offenses and defenses of other teams. She has extremely quick hands; sometimes I think she gets more foul calls than she should because she doesn’t get the credit for being that quick.”

Now it’s on to the Southern California Regionals. But Miller said she and her teammates were going to enjoy the section championship because so many people had told them they would not win it without Nicole Erickson, who is now playing for Purdue.

“This is still a thrill for me because we had a young team and we proved people wrong,” she said. “Each year is different. Last year the State championship was probably more important because we were expected to win it. This year, if we only win the (Southern Section) championship, we still went pretty far.”