Brea Olinda Girls Add to League Streak

A sense of relief might be on the faces of the Brea Olinda girls’ basketball players tonight when they play host to Fullerton Troy, ranked No. 3 in the region by The Times.

That’s because the Ladycats rallied from an eight-point deficit with 2 minutes 15 seconds remaining Friday night and defeated Villa Park, 38-35, in a Century League game at Brea Olinda.

The victory extended Brea Olinda’s league winning streak to 185 games over the last 19 years.

Jeannette Pohlen made one of two free throws with 14.4 seconds remaining to give the Ladycats (9-5, 1-0) a 36-35 lead. Nikki Awaathen blocked Lauren Sahli’s hook shot in the lane with six seconds remaining and Pohlen made two more free throws at the other end to seal the victory.

Pohlen scored 16 points for Brea Olinda, which outscored Villa Park, 23-11, in the second half.

-- Dan Arritt

Girls’ Water Polo

Junior Brooke Figge had two goals and one assist and junior Darby Anderson scored twice as fourth-seeded Santa Margarita defeated Corona del Mar, 5-3, to advance to today’s semifinals of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions at Santa Barbara High.

Anderson’s sister, freshman Kacey Anderson, had the other goal, USC-bound senior Mary Cousineau had three assists and sophomore goalie Stephanie Peckham made 13 saves for the Eagles, who were deadlocked with the Sea Kings at 1-1 after the first quarter and at 2-2 at halftime.

The victory was the Eagles’ second over Corona del Mar this season. They also defeated the Sea Kings, 8-6, in the quarterfinals of the Newport Harbor/Corona del Mar tournament two weeks ago.

Katie Indvik finished with two goals for Corona del Mar (6-5). Jordan Anae had the Sea Kings’ other goal, which tied the game at 3-3 late in the third period.

Fourth-seeded Santa Margarita (11-2), which has posted victories over second-seeded Santa Ana Foothill and third-seeded defending tournament-champion Santa Barbara this season, takes on top-seeded Newport Harbor (12-0) for the first time in the semifinals at noon today.

Melissa Wheeler and Ashling Taylor each scored three goals and Kally Lucas had a goal and two assists as Newport Harbor advanced with an 8-4 victory over Long Beach Wilson at UC Santa Barbara.

Taylor and Wheeler each had one goal in the third quarter when the Sailors took a 5-2 lead. Wheeler added two more goals and Taylor had one more in the fourth quarter.

Emily Klug and Kelsey Holshouser each scored two goals for Foothill as the Knights beat Villa Park, 9-3, to advance to the other semifinal game against Santa Barbara at 11 a.m. today.

Sophomore Kelly Easterday and Nicole Louie each had three goals to help Santa Barbara (11-3) rally from an early 3-0 deficit in an 11-6 quarterfinal victory over Laguna Beach.