Lynwood Rolls Along

Jeff Sink, the girls’ basketball coach at Brea Olinda High, has seen a lot of good teams through the years because his Ladycats usually play schedules filled with national competition.

After getting a first-hand view of Lynwood on Saturday, Sink said the Knights could finish the season undefeated.

Nobody has come close to beating them.Lynwood, No. 1 in The Times’ rankings, opened a 26-point lead against No. 9 Brea on its way to a 53-29 nonleague victory at home.

“I’ve seen pretty much everybody at these national tournaments, and if Lynwood uses their posts more on offense, I don’t think they can be beat,” Sink said. “They made us look pretty bad.”

Lynwood’s guards dominated, their full-court pressure causing many of Brea’s 28 turnovers. Andrea Adams had seven steals and Sade Wiley-Gatewood had four.

Adams, whose successive three-point baskets gave Lynwood a 10-0 lead just over four minutes into the game, finished with 11 points. Janice Bright scored a team-high 14 for Lynwood and had five rebounds in a balanced team effort. Lorie Rayford--one of the posts Sink referred to--had a team-high six rebounds and seven points. Audrey Taylor scored eight and Wiley-Gatewood had seven.

Brea bounced back from the early deficit, pulling to within 12-11 on two baskets by Carrie Noyes early in the second quarter, but the Ladycats went the next 8:38 without a field goal, and Lynwood went on a 19-1 run, taking advantage of 11 Brea turnovers in the second and third quarters, and building a 42-16 lead going into the fourth.

Lynwood held Brea to only five of 27 field-goal attempts in the first three quarters. Lynwood was 15 of 39 in that same span.

“We didn’t handle the pressure well at all,” said Sink, whose team dropped to 7-5. “I think we can play with anybody as long as we get into our half-court set.”

Lynwood, which has beaten teams ranked Nos. 3, 4, 8, 13 and 14 in various national polls, improved to 13-0.