Brethren Christian Playoff Run Ends

Brethren Christian, which finished third in the Olympic League, extended its girls’ basketball season longer than expected. After it finally ended in the semifinals of the Southern California regionals with a 52-47 loss to Corcoran Thursday in the Warrior Center, Coach Kim Harris expressed the hope that this won’t be the end of the program.

The school is suffering financial woes that might force the school, including the 4-year-old arena, to close.

“My heart and my faith tells me that there will be a Brethren Christian again next year, but the reality of the situation at this point and time says there won’t be,” Harris said.

The school is looking into splitting the junior high and high school campuses among local church sites, but Harris said even that probably wouldn’t generate enough student numbers to keep the gymnasium open.

“I was the first coach that had a practice in here with my girls, and maybe the last basketball coach to be out of here too,” Harris said.

An 8-0 run by Corcoran in the second quarter put it ahead, 24-17, and the Warriors never got within five the remainder of the game. Corcoran (28-5) stifled Brethren Christian with a full-court press that limited the opportunities of leading scorer Cindy Oparah, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Rachael MacDonald led the Warriors (20-11) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

“Coming up and being able to put pressure on Cindy in the back court, and Cindy not being able to react, to cut, and to get open earlier, was the key,” Harris said.

Oparah’s three-pointer with 1:10 left to play cut the lead to seven, but the Warriors still had fouls to give and couldn’t get Corcoran to the free-throw line. Brethren Christian waited until seven seconds were left on the shot clock before fouling Corcoran, which reset the shot clock with 42 seconds left.

“The foul situation kind of backfired,” Corcoran Coach Doug White said. “I thought we should have got more fouls inside with the post game, but it helped us in the long run.”