BREA – Brea Olinda was impressive in phases Friday night.
In the first quarter against visiting Fairmont Prep, the Ladycats shot the lights out. In the second quarter, they overcame shooting woes with key offensive rebounds. In the second half, Brea locked down the Huskies, who came into the game averaging just more than 64 points per game, and only allowed 14 points.
It all amounted to a comfortable, 55-34 nonleague victory in a battle of two top-10 teams in Orange County.
Brea guard Reili Richardson was most impressive throughout, with a game-high 22 points, but the junior impacted the game in so many other ways, with three blocks on perimeter jump shots, three assists, four rebounds and two steals. At the half, Richardson had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor and Brea opened up a 37-20 lead.
Freshman forward Tyiona Watkins also thrived for the Wildcats (5-0) against Fairmont Prep’s zone defense, taking in 17 rebounds (nine offensive) to go along with 14 points. In the third quarter alone, Watkins had 10 rebounds and kept Brea’s offensive possessions alive with six on the offensive end.
“(Richardson) is the real deal, and then the young kid (Watkins) is just going to be so good,” Brea coach Jeff Sink said. “(Watkins) probably missed 10 shots in the third quarter, but, I mean, she’s 14 years old. When you’ve been a basketball coach as long as I have, you just want your kids to play hard.”
The Brea offensive rebounds were the undoing of the Huskies (5-1) from the start. Even after falling behind by double digits in the first half, Fairmont Prep made a small run midway through the second quarter to cut the deficit to eight points, but every time the Huskies seemed to get a momentum-swinging stop on defense, either Watkins or Brea senior forward Sierra Bononi (who also had 17 rebounds) seemed to extend the Wildcats’ possession with an offensive board. Brea outrebounded Fairmont Prep, 44-22.
Fairmont Prep coach David Esparza said after the game the Huskies might have been caught up in the atmosphere of playing one of the top programs in state history, with nine state championship banners hanging in the rafters.
“Our kids may have got caught up in the moment a bit,” Esparza said. “We’ll learn from this, look at the film and hopefully this will motivate us in January and February, so hopefully those mistakes won’t happen in the playoffs.”
Junior guard Maud Ranger led the Huskies with 12 points, but Cornell-bound senior Samantha Clement – who was averaging more than 20 points per game – was the focus of the Brea defense, which limited the standout shooter to just five points.
“Sam is always going to get guarded, so the other players need to step up,” Esparza said. “We need to be a good basketball team, not just one kid.”
Contact the writer: jbalan@ocregister.com
