Brea Wastes Little Time in Victory

It didn’t take long for Brea Olinda to assert itself in the Southern Section Division II-A girls’ basketball final Friday at the Pyramid.

Led by four senior starters, Brea scored nine unanswered points in the first two minutes and never looked back on its way to defeating Moorpark, 57-45, to win the school’s ninth consecutive section title and 10th in 12 years.

Moorpark came out tight and played catch-up for the duration of its first section title game.

“When you’re going against all that tradition, it’s kind of like going up against Notre Dame,” Moorpark Coach Brent Milburn said. “I think the kids were a little psyched out.”

A little?

“We came in too nervous,” said sophomore Damaris Hinojosa, who finished with 20 points for Moorpark. “But something like this, it’s what I’ve been training for my whole career.

“And just the idea of playing here? When we walked into this arena for the first time . . . oh my God.”

But for Brea, the Pyramid is another home-away-from-home.

“This is the third year we’ve played here so we’re used to it,” Brea senior guard Marissa Bradley said. “We know what the crowd sounds like, how the court feels, what the baskets look like and how to react in a championship game.

“I knew we could come out on top early.”

Brea’s four seniors got the Ladycats started. Senior forward Rochelle Anthony scored inside, then Bradley added a three-pointer before Anthony scored again to give Brea a 7-0 lead, 1 minute 33 seconds into the game.

Senior guard Jennifer Saari added an outside jumper to push the lead to nine, then after two free throws by Anthony, senior forward Stephanie Wettlin scored from the right baseline to make it 13-2 with 2:40 remaining in the quarter.

“Coming in, knowing about all the pressure and knowing what it’s like, it helped us,” Anthony said. “I think maybe they were a little nervous.”

Moorpark committed seven turnovers in its first 11 possessions and didn’t score its first field goal until Hinojosa scored with 2:11 remaining in the first quarter to make it 13-4.

Although the Musketeers shot 19% from the field and committed 15 turnovers in the first half, they only trailed by eight at halftime.

But Brea’s seniors keyed a 12-0 run in a five-minute span in the third and fourth quarters to turn a 10-point lead into a 51-29 advantage with 3:51 remaining.

“It would have been a bigger shock if we lost,” Bradley said. “Sure, winning a state title is our main goal, but we know we have to take it one step at a time.”