Brethren Christian Falls Short

There was no hesitation in the answers from the Brethren Christian coach and player after their 53-39 Olympic League loss Thursday to Cerritos Valley Christian.

The question: Who has the advantage if you play again?

The answer from both: “We do.”

Their reasoning was that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in a season. But for now, Valley Christian’s second consecutive victory over Brethren Christian was all that mattered.

It gave the Crusaders their sixth consecutive Olympic League title and their fifth unbeaten league season in that span. The Crusaders (23-2, 10-0) will go into next week’s Southern Section Division IV-A playoffs as the top-seeded team and will be looking for their sixth consecutive title.

Brethren Christian (18-5, 8-2), ranked third in the section poll, should go in as the No. 3 team. If they play again, it would be for the section title.

It wasn’t Valley Christian’s mystique that got to Brethren Christian at the Warrior Center in front of more than 1,000 spectators. It was the all-or-nothing, “something at stake in front of a big crowd” atmosphere, Brethren Christian Coach Kim Harris said.

That might explain the three-for-26 shooting performance in the first half (one for 14 in the first quarter) that led to a 27-9 deficit. Brethren Christian eventually trailed by 23 points, 34-11, before rallying to within 10 points, 40-30, with 4:04 left. It was still a 10-point game with 41 seconds remaining.

“It was a little surprising--we expected more,” said junior Sarah Middlebrook (19 points), who attended Brea Olinda last season. “We expected them to come out fired up and we had to come out as fired up as they were.”

Monique Toney, who started at Esperanza as a freshman and plans to attend Pittsburgh this fall, scored 16 for the Crusaders. UC Santa Barbara-bound Tandee Taylor was held to six points and 13 rebounds by Brethren Christian junior Cindy Oparah (seven points, 13 rebounds, five steals).

Rachael MacDonald led Brethren Christian with 14 points, but her three-for-13 shooting performance personified the Warriors’ troubles.