Brea Olinda Wins a Title With No-How

After the players had been hugged and the championship plaque presented, Brea Olinda Coach Jeff Sink loosened his tie and said amid the bedlam that surrounded him, “Three years in a row we win this game and we stink.”

An onlooker asked, “Does it matter?”

Sink, a third-year coach, answered in unison with his assistant, Tony Matson, “No!”

No, because Brea’s 57-45 Division II-A victory Friday over Moorpark was the school’s ninth consecutive Southern Section title.

No, because the Ladycats (27-3) scored an important psychological victory on their quest to win their first state title in three years.

No, because, as guard Marissa Bradley said, “We didn’t play good and we still beat this team.”

Brea Olinda’s victory at the Pyramid, while sloppy, was the program’s 45th consecutive victory in the section playoffs.

“That’s impressive,” Sink said. “Especially in that it’s a one-and-out atmosphere.”

There were few moments when it appeared Brea might actually be out of this game. Instead, the Ladycats made four of their first six field goals, jumped to 9-0 and 13-2 leads, and never faced a challenge that got closer than five points--and that lasted for only 65 seconds in the first quarter.

“We had to pick it up some after we fell apart there,” Jennifer Saari said of Moorpark’s run that cut the Brea lead to 13-8. Brea responded with an 8-3 run, capped by Stephanie Wettlin’s four-for-four shooting to open the game, for a 21-11 lead 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter. Brea led at halftime, 25-17.

At that point, Brea may have been lucky to be holding the lead.

“No way were we lucky,” Bradley said.

Moorpark (25-3) shot only 19% (four of 21) from the field in the half. It made only eight of 17 free throws. And it committed 14 turnovers.

Although Brea’s shooting was the decisive edge--the Ladycats made 10 of 25 shots in the half--there was enough sloppiness to make a winning coach cringe. Brea had 13 turnovers in the first half and finished with 29 in the game--same as Moorpark. But it made up for it by shooting 44.8% for the game (23 of 54).

“We had a lot of opportunities if we control our turnovers,” Moorpark Coach Brent Milburn said. “We did a fairly good job of rebounding, and we would have been within range if we had made our free-throws.”

Moorpark finished 14 of 48 from the field, 13 of 26 from the line.

Saari (six points) and Bradley (eight points) were on the bench with three fouls and Brea leading, 28-21, in the third quarter when Wettlin and the reserves responded.

Wettlin, Brea’s 5-foot-11 center who had 20 points and six rebounds, scored on a layup, and Catherine Solorio followed with a basket under the boards. Wettlin’s turnaround jumper was followed by Erin Kelly’s three-point play on a layup to make it 37-23.

“That play reintroduced us to what we needed to do--push the ball and attack the basket,” Sink said of Kelly’s effort. “When we ran at them, everything we did was good. We made another nice little run after that.”

Little run?

Solorio’s layup with 1:03 left in the third quarter began a 12-0 run that gave Brea its largest lead, 51-29.

Moorpark ended its drought with 3:41 left in the game with a 9-0 burst--sparked by consecutive three-point baskets from Damaris Hinojosa (20 points). But Rochelle Anthony, who scored 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds--eight in the fourth quarter--made a six-footer, and Wettlin scored twice under the basket in the final 1:40.

Wettlin, clearly her team’s most valuable player against La Puente Bishop Amat in the semifinals, was 10 for 16 shooting against Moorpark. She made her first four shots and five of her first seven.

“Coach always calls me ‘Playoff Girl,’ ” said Wettlin, who had big games in last year’s playoffs too. “I get really motivated to help the team advance to a higher level.”

Bradley said Wettlin was the only starter who played well.

“Every now and then, we kind of look sloppy, but we still get the job done,” Bradley said. “The job does get done.”

And that was the only thing that seemed to matter.