SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BASKETBALL REGIONALS : Division III Girls : Brea Has Some Fun in Easy Victory : Balanced Scoring Leads to a Trip to Saturday’s Final

For three quarters Thursday, the starters on the Brea-Olinda High School girls’ basketball team had some fun during a 78-48 victory over Reedley in the Southern California Regional Division III semifinals.

Then, the starting five had some fun on the bench, joining the capacity crowd at Brea-Olinda in the wave and cheering on the reserves.

“It was so much fun out there,” said Tammy Blackburn, who was one of four starters scoring in double figures with 14 points. “But you never know, they always could be a second-half team. We just went out there in the second half and played hard. If you play hard in the second half, it will carry over into the next game.”

Brea (29-2) hopes that will carry over to Saturday’s Southern California championship game against Lemoore (20-8) at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

“That was our goal this year, to get to the Sports Arena,” Brea-Olinda Coach Mark Trakh said.

The road to the final has been a smooth one for Brea, which has been threatened only once in postseason play in a seven-point victory over St. Joseph of Lakewood in the Southern Section semifinals.

But against Reedley (12-14), from the Central Section, Brea-Olinda scored the first 12 points and led by 20 points at the end of the first quarter, behind Aimee McDaniel’s eight points.

McDaniel led all scorers with 19 points, Cindy Gunn added 13 and Jody Anton had 12.

“Throughout the starting five there is no one to key on,” Trakh said. “That’s been our strength, our balance.”

The Ladycats allowed two points in the first 5 1/2 minutes, leading, 18-2.

That lead grew steadily through the second quarter and expanded to 41 points midway through the third quarter.

“Actually, we expected a close game,” Trakh said. “But Cindy Gunn and McDaniel did a really great job.”

Junior guard McDaniel hit two three-pointers to start the game and made another jumper midway through the quarter.

Gunn stayed inside and turned Blackburn’s baseline passes into seven points in the quarter.

The scene continued in the second quarter, as freshman center Jinelle Williams scored all of her eight points.

The starters slowly migrated to the bench in the third quarter, until Trakh took out Blackburn and McDaniel with 38 seconds left.

The reserves managed only five points, but limited the Pirates to 10 as Brea coasted to the victory.

About the only thing the Wildcats had trouble with was free throw shooting--10 of 22 for the night.

“We’ve worked very hard to get here,” Trakh said. “I thought next year would be the year for us. But they have worked so hard this year.”