Brea Olinda needs late charge to get past Troy
Troy and Brea Olinda renewed one of the more spirited girls basketball rivalries over the past decade on Saturday, and the contest was as emotional as those played in previous years.
The No.1 Ladycats played from behind for much of the contest before turning in a big fourth quarter on both ends of the court en route to a 42-37 victory.
“It was a tough, tough game,” Ladycats coach Jeff Sink said. “I’m proud of the kids the way they were able to battle back.”
No. 3 Troy led 22-17 at the half and 32-30 after three quarters. The Ladycats (23-2) then held the Warriors (21-3) to one field goal in the fourth quarter while getting the ball inside to Keitra Wallace on the offensive end for easy baskets.
Wallace led the Ladycats with 14 points, 12 coming in the second half and six in the fourth quarter.
Wallace followed up her offensive rebound with a layup to tie the score early in the fourth and then hit a layup to tie the score a second time with 5:05 remaining.
After the Warriors turned the ball over on a shot clock violation with 1:17 remaining, Wallace threw a football-like pass to a streaking Alexis Perry whose driving layup gave Brea Olilnda a 38-34 lead with just over a minute left.
Perry then made a steal on the Warriors next possession, and passed the ball inside to Wallace, whose layup put the Ladycats up, 40-34 with 32 seconds left.
Troy’s Ashley Johnson scored a game-high 16 points.
The Ladycats held Troy standout Alex Sanchez scoreless from the field.
Sanchez was guarded most of the game by Kelsey Harris.
In other girls basketball:
In the Sea View League:
No. 6 Woodbridge 53, No. 11 Huntington Beach 37: The Warriors (21-5, 8-0) clinched a share of the league championship with their victory over the Oilers (18-6, 6-2) at Woodbridge.
Sara McCutchan led the way for the Warriors with 17 points and Sarah Lipton added 12.
In the Century League:
No. 4 Villa Park 52, No. 17 El Dorado 43: Brianna Salvatore and Nicole Ballestero each scored 11 for the Spartans (18-6, 6-2) as they defeated the Golden Hawks (13-10, 4-4) at Villa Park.
In boys soccer:
In the Trinity League:
No. 1 Mater Dei 3, Santa Margarita 2: The Monarchs (16-1-6, 7-0-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead at halftime and held off a second-half surge by the Eagles (7-11-1, 2-5-1) to remain undefeated in league play.
Eddie Becker, Connor Hall and Kyle MacLeod each scored for the Monarchs and Paul Elias had four saves.
