Girls’ basketball: She has started to shoot more to help the Ladycats.

Her coaches had been telling her all along that she needed to take a greater role in the offense, but it took a loss, a television broadcast and some play-by-play criticism for the message to sink in.

Why doesn’t Jennifer Saari shoot the ball?

That was her problem in the fourth quarter of Brea Olinda’s 53-45 loss to Mater Dei on Jan. 20. Saari had made four of her previous six shots going into the last quarter, including two three-point baskets, and the Ladycats trailed by one, 45-44, with 4:28 left in the game.

But Saari, one of Brea Olinda’s four junior starters, didn’t take a shot until 67 seconds remained.

It was an important loss because Saari learned something valuable.

“I learned that I needed to step up and take over, shoot the ball more and be more of a leader,” Saari said. “I realized it after the game when I watched it on TV--[OCN’s Dave] Feldman was saying I need to shoot the ball more.”

Then the light bulb went on; that’s the same thing everyone else was telling her too.

“She took a little heat--deservedly so--for that performance,” Brea Olinda Coach Jeff Sink said. “It was our game to win and we didn’t shoot the ball at all down the stretch. We were reluctant because Jen deferred and tried to make the great pass.

“More than anything, that game has taught her that when you are blessed and you have the requisite skill and leadership, it’s your responsibility to take the shot and take over the game.”

Since then, Saari has averaged 18 points, almost five more than her average to that point. She’s shooting 44% from the three-point arc and averaging 14.8 points and 6.2 assists.

It has helped put top-seeded Brea Olinda (26-3) in position to win its eighth consecutive Southern Section title tonight in the Division II-A championship against second-seeded Ocean View (22-7).

“I don’t think I’ve ever coached someone who was such a good athlete who was so consumed with modesty, team chemistry and really lack of ego,” Sink said. “A lot of times when you have a great player, you have to introduce them to a team concept. With Saari, we’ve introduced her to the concept of individual play so as to allow her to dominate the game. It’s been fun, because usually you have to work the other way around.”

Translation: Saari passed up the shots Brea Olinda needed her to take.

“This has been the battle we have fought with her, to get her to understand that being unselfish by our definition is for her to step up and shoot the big shot, make the big pass, or go for the big rebound,” Sink said. “Her perception is that if you look to take the big shot and make the big play, that might be a selfish play.

“We’ve told her that she’s being selfish if she doesn’t take the shot. It’s kind of a reverse definition of the word.”

But it’s a definition Saari’s starting to understand. In the section semifinals against fourth-seeded Perris, hobbled by a strained knee, a poor first half and Brea Olinda trailing by 10, Saari hit a three-point basket that lit a fire under her teammates. She then scored two of the next three possessions on crossover moves that ended with jumpers in the paint. She scored six of her eight points in that span and the Ladycats won, 54-53.

Sink said she told him afterward, “ ‘It was time for me to step up and play the game.’ ”

“The other team was more athletic, but when Saari stepped it up and shook off the injury and decided it was her game,” Sink said, “I think all of us smiled and realized, ‘She’s arrived.’ ”