Pohlen is unstoppable

Jeanette Pohlen is in Cleveland this weekend to play in the Women’s Basketball Coaches High School All-America game and to watch the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

If Pohlen has her way, she’ll eventually be playing in the Final Four with Stanford, which was impressed enough with her 4.0 grade-point average and basketball skills to offer her a scholarship.

A 6-foot guard who scored, rebounded, played defense and carried her Brea Olinda team to the highest level, Pohlen is The Times’ girls’ basketball player of the year.

“It was no big secret where the ball was going,” said Rick Thompson of Norco, whose defense allowed an average of 43.2 points but gave up 27 to Pohlen, whom he praised for providing all the intangibles that distinguish the top players.

Nobody shut down Pohlen. Not Harbor City Narbonne. Not Fullerton Troy. Not Long Beach Poly. She scored 80 of her team’s 170 points against those outstanding defensive teams.

Pohlen averaged 22.6 points and shot 51% from the field. But she also averaged 10.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.6 blocks.

Her numbers were even better in the playoffs: 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.9 blocks.

“She was unique as a freshman in that she was multidimensional,” Brea Coach Jeff Sink said. “She was a good shooter and offensive rebounder, but the entire staff saw a lot of potential. She handled the ball pretty well for a big kid, she had a high basketball I.Q., and we made the controversial decision to move her from shooting guard to the point immediately for spring ball.”

It was a huge move, ultimately.

“Putting me in that spot forced me to step up,” said Pohlen, who faced every kind of defense. “I may not have been the player I am today if I didn’t play the [point]. It really did help me step up in that role. I think Sink knew that. He’s a smart guy too. He knows what he’s got, and I think he knew what he was doing.”

But it might not have worked with a lesser player who didn’t put in the effort needed to improve.

“She’s the only kid I ever coached who practiced every drill like it was her last,” Sink said. “I’d have to sit her out sometimes at practice, and she’d just stand there glowering at me.

“The great thing about Jeanette is she got better every year. She’d come back with three or four new skills, her ballhandling, her ability to shoot the three-point shot ... “

Earlier this week at the McDonald’s All-Star Classic, Pohlen took third in the three-point shooting contest.

About the only thing she didn’t succeed in was storybook endings. Brea won its first 30 games, but lost to Long Beach Poly in the Southern Section Division I-AA championship, and then to San Jose Mitty in the State Division II final, 54-49.

But her defining moment came in a 55-53 loss in the section I-AA final against Poly, the No. 2 team in the nation in Student Sports Magazine’s rankings. The Jackrabbits are one of the best defensive teams in the nation.

Pohlen had 30 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.

“When I saw that game, there was no doubt in my mind who the player of the year was,” said Mel Sims, coach at Chino Hills Ayala. “They tried to do everything they could to stop her.

“She did it against the best.”

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martin.henderson@latimes.com