Brea’s Focus Will Be on Fisher

There’s no doubt about who Brea Olinda will need to stop if the Ladycats are to win their third consecutive state Division II girls’ basketball championship tonight in Sacramento’s Arco Arena.

Mia Fisher plays as if she is a one-girl team, leading Pleasanton Amador Valley in points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots.

“Mia is an outstanding athlete,” Brea Coach Jeff Sink said. “She has a great vertical jump. She’s pretty famous for her ability to slash to the basket and she passes well too.”

Sink got a good look at Fisher, a 5-foot-10 guard, during last season’s state final, when Brea overcame an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Amador Valley, 54-51.

Fisher, who finished with 22 points against the Ladycats, scored 10 late in the third quarter to give the Dons a 46-35 lead.

Fisher was named the state’s sophomore of the year by Cal-Hi Sports last season. She hasn’t let up this season.

She is shooting 52% from the field and 72% from the free-throw line. She averages 24.2 points, 15 more than any teammate.

Sink compares Fisher to Veronica Johns-Richardson, Troy High’s 5-10 junior guard who averaged 18.3 points, 7.0 assists and 6.7 rebounds this season.

Fisher holds 12 school records at Amador Valley, including points scored in a game (39), season (750) and career (1,864). She set the single-game scoring mark last week in an 82-63 rout of Mountain View St. Francis in a Northern California Regional semifinal.

At Arco Arena two days later, Fisher scored 11 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter as Amador Valley defeated Concord Carondelet, 63-56, for its second consecutive Northern California Regional title.

“The thing about Amador is they have a pretty good nucleus behind [Fisher],” Sink said. “We absolutely have to stop Mia, but we have to stop her passes too.”

Amador Valley’s second-leading scorer is sophomore guard Vanessa Rogers, who leads the team with 31 three-pointers.

Another sophomore guard, Tessa Winter, is an excellent complement to Fisher because of her accurate outside shot, which can make opposing defenders pay for double-teaming Fisher.

Senior forward Brittany Kernan scored a career-high 17 points in the regional title game.

Besides Kernan, the Dons have four other players 6-0 or 6-1 who will probably take turns pounding on Brea’s Stanford-bound 6-3 center, Chelsea Trotter. Even so, it may be tough to put a dent in Trotter’s game.

“Chelsea has never really played in a state championship game,” Sink said, “so I expect her to be real active.

“She was injured last season [torn knee ligament], and her sophomore year she only played like a quarter and a half.”