Notebook : Brea Coach Says He Tried to Call Off His Ladycats

First-year Brea-Olinda girls’ basketball Coach Jeff Sink found himself immersed in controversy after his first game last week.

The Ladycats, four-time defending State champions who finished No. 1 in USA Today’s national poll, opened the season with an eye-popping 137-10 victory over Ontario Chaffey last week.

That’s a 127-point margin of victory, and accusations running up the score were flying as quickly as a Nicole Erickson pass. But that wasn’t the case.

Sink called off the press seven minutes into the game and played all 13 of his players--including his junior varsity players. All scored; the Ladycats shot 56% from the field--mostly from the perimeter.

“I took the press off . . . and they pushed the ball back at us and handed it to us and we would go the other way,” Sink said the day after. “I’m not like that; it bothered me. I called (Chaffey Coach Rudy Figeroa) and he was a gentleman; he said ‘No problem, you could have scored 200 if you wanted to.’

“I will never let that happen again. In hindsight, we could have passed the ball 10 times before shooting, but there’s one school of thought that says that’s more humiliating because it’s obvious you’re not trying to score.

“The one thing I was not trying to do was run it up. It was an obvious mismatch.”

The next , Brea beat Upland, 94-26, to set the county record for consecutive victories at 56; 12 players scored.

The Ladycats won the tournament by beating Lynwood, 57-32, their 58th consecutive victory.

There’s no telling how much longer the current winning streak will last; in this week’s Ladycat Classic, Sink scheduled Brea with the toughest road to the final.

“(Our) half of the bracket is loaded,” Sink said. “Here at Brea, I think you play for CIF and State (titles) and everything else is just preparation.”

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Created in 1990, the Bob Woods Trophy--named after the former Mater Dei head coach and Bishop Amat assistant coach--went to the winner of the football game between Angelus League rivals Mater Dei and Bishop Amat. The teams played twice before the league was disbanded and the trophy has been in Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson’s office since. However, the trophy will be on the line--along with the Southern Section championship--in Saturday’s game.

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In case you didn’t know, Trabuco Hills outgained La Puente Bishop Amat, 287 yards to 286, in the Mustangs’ 49-22 loss in the Division I semifinal. . . . Servite got four sacks against El Toro in the Division V semifinal; Newport Harbor, Servite’s championship opponent, has given up only five sacks all season.

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Mater Dei forward Schea Cotton, bothered by a rash, will not play in any Monarch games this week. But itching isn’t Cotton’s only problem. According to Coach Gary McKnight, the sophomore has gained 10 to 12 pounds.

Said McKnight: “His mother said right now I could probably beat him in a race.”

Times staff writers Chris Foster and Mike Terry contributed to this story.