Injuries don't slow top programs

It says a lot about the coaching and a lot about the depth.

The Brea Olinda and Mater Dei girls basketball teams keep losing key players, but they keep winning, too, as they have progressed to their rematch in the CIF Southern California Regionals Division 2 final Saturday at 2 p.m. at USC Galen Center.

Brea standout junior guard Alexis Perry tore the ACL in her right knee last week, and the Ladycats already were without center Justine Hartman, All-County first team last season as a sophomore and another knee-injury victim.

Injuries knocked out Mater Dei starters Lauren Rock (ACL tear) and Alexyz Vaioletama (stress fractures, both shins), and part-time starter Taylor Spears did a mid-season transfer to Brea.

Mater Dei's Kevin Kiernan gets plenty of credit for being a great coach, and he deserves every word of it. Brea coach Jeff Sink gets criticized sometimes by anonymous posters on message boards. It's difficult to determine which is worse, these posters' lack of courage or their lack of basketball knowledge, because Sink is a great coach, too.

Most schools have basketball teams. A select few have programs. The programs are the ones that can overcome big injuries and still have outstanding seasons.

Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:

• The CIF Southern California Regionals Division 1 final, in which Mater Dei plays Westchester of Los Angeles on Saturday at 8 p.m. at USC Galen Center, features two of the state's top veteran coaches. Westchester coach Ed Azzam is in his 31st year coaching the Comets, and Gary McKnight is in his 26th season with Mater Dei. (Read game preview.)

• There is no live TV of the Brea-Mater Dei girls game or the Mater Dei-Westchester boys game. Live updates from both games will be at OCVarsity.com, which also will have video highlights after the games.

• The schedule for the Regionals finals Saturday at USC Galen Center: Division 3 girls, Bishop Amat of La Puente vs. Inglewood, 10 a.m.; Division 3 boys, Centennial of Compton vs. Serra of Gardena, noon (worth getting there early to watch that one); Division 2 girls, Brea Olinda vs. Mater Dei, 2 p.m.; Division 2 boys, Compton vs. Lincoln of San Diego, 4 p.m.; Division 1 girls, Clovis West vs. Long Beach Poly, 6 p.m.; Division 1 boys, Mater Dei vs. Westchester, 8 p./m.

• A ticket is good for all six Regionals finals games at the USC Galen Center. VIP courtside tickets are $45 each, with all other seating general admission ($10 for children, students with student identification and seniors 65 and older with ID, and $18 for all other GA admissions). Parking is $10.

• The Los Alamitos softball team debuted at No. 9 in the state rankings after finishing second in the Tournament of Champions in Bullhead City, Ariz., this past weekend. The Griffins were not in the state preseason rankings posted at calhisports.com. Other county softball teams in the California top 20: Canyon, at No. 7; El Modena, No. 10; and Mater Dei, No. 12.

• Edison was at No. 5 in Baseball America's national rankings coming into this week. It will be interesting to see how getting swept by JSerra in a Monday doubleheader will affect Edison's place in state and national rankings. JSerra is an excellent team, so dropping two to the Lions in a nonleague March doubleheader is not disastrous.

• With Alemany of Mission Hills joining the Serra League for football to make that a five-team league, the Serra League will get three guaranteed playoff berths in the Pac-5 playoffs this fall instead of the two berths the league got as a four-team league in 2009. So, with the Pac-5's South Coast, Sunset, Serra and Trinity leagues getting three guaranteed berths, and the seven-team Moore League still getting four guaranteed berths, that makes 16 guaranteed berths and no room for an at-large berth in the division for the 2010 football playoffs.