SoCalHoops High School News

CIF State Finals Division II Girls Preview:
Brea Olinda v. Amador Valley--(March 19, 1999)

CIF State Finals Girls State
Championship Game--Division II
6:15 p.m., Friday, March 19 - Arco Arena
Sacramento California

Brea Olinda would be a heavy favorite if the defending champion Ladycats were at full strength. But with junior center Chelsea Trotter out because of a knee injury, Brea Olinda showed some vulnerability, but a lot of depth in the SoCal Regional final on Saturday over Fresno Edison.  Jill Trader and Jerri Armendariz, who is diminutive, but capable of driving and good penetration,  combined with guard Lindsey Davidson for and other experienced Brea players to help the seven-time state champion Ladycats advance to their eighth appearance in the finals.  If you've never seen Brea play, they are very good, disciplined (well sometimes. . . we though Jeff Sink was going to have a heart attack when Davidson launched a three-pointer from NBA range which missed giving Edison the ball and a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter).

Some History: Brea has now won 7 State titles.  They won Division III titles in 1989, '92 and '94, and they won Division II titles in 1991, '93, '97 and '98. The Ladycats are 7-1 in state championship games, losing only to Placer (54-43) in the 1990 Division II matchup.  At one point, the Ladycats had four straight championships (1991-94), a feat that Point Loma San Diego and Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton have also accomplished. On Saturday, in the SoCal Regional Final, Brea-Olinda had all it could handle against Fresno Edison's Lady Tigers, but emerged with a 69-65 win to advance to a record eighth appearance in the championship game. Trailing to Edison, 36-34, at the half in the regional finals the Brea Ladycats put together a great run in the third quarter, outscoring Edison 18-9 to take a commanding lead into the fourth quarter which they almost surrendered as several players got into foul trouble. Davidson played for most of the fourth quarter with four fouls.  But eventually, on the strong play of Jill Trader (17 points), Jeri Armendariz (14 points) and Kate Ides (10 points) the Ladycats hung on for the win.

Amador Valley is led by Mia Fisher and Jaysie Chambers. Fisher made 11 of 15 shots and finished with 22 points in a 63-41 regional final victory against Cupertino Homestead. Chambers had 15 points and 17 rebounds. Amador Valley is the top-seed from the NorCals with a 30-2 overall record. Amador Valley controlled the boards to a tune of 45-25 over Homestead in a, 63-41, northern regional final win.  Amador Valley makes its first  appearance in the state title game.

Here's a closer look at the rosters:

Dave Osterman of the Orange County Register did a very nice story on the Brea girls, and he should know them quite well, because girls' hoops is his beat.  Here's what he wrote yesterday, which was principally a feature on Kate Ides, but which also focused on several other of the Ladycats players:

There are a lot of descriptions for the style of play Kate Ides brings to a basketball court.  Tenacious defender, fierce rebounder. Just don't tell the 6-foot-2 Brea Olinda senior she's a great role player.

"I don't believe in the term 'role player,' " Ides said Monday as her team prepared for the CIF state Division II championship game Friday in Sacramento against Amador Valley of Pleasanton. Ides says everyone has a role to play in a basketball game but that the term "role player" implies she fills only that role.  "I might have a specific assignment in a a game, maybe make a defensive stop or to hit the boards," she said. "But I'm going to try to contribute in other areas as well. I'm going to try to score or make the open pass. That is just as important."

It will be important for Ides to step her game up in all levels this week as the Ladycats (31-3) look for their second consecutive state title and seventh overall. The Ladycats lost Chelsea Trotter, the Register's Girls Basketball Player of the Year, last week to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. With the 6-2 center out of action, Ides and 6-0 junior Jill Trader will be called upon to play inside.  The Ladycats, ranked second in the state and 16th in the country still defeated Edison of Fresno, 69-65, Saturday in the Southern California Regional final.

Ides played only 16 minutes of that game, however, because of foul trouble, and she expects to have to step up her game a notch against Amador Valley (30-2).  "We aren't going to change our style of play so much for this game," she said. "We all grew up within the program, and just because one player goes out, we aren't going to make wholesale changes.

"I'm sure everyone on the team is going to have to step up their games just a little bit more."  Ides knows how hard it is to change a style of play to suit a new program. She did that in 1997 when her family moved from Lexington, Va., to Brea after her sophomore year.

"My father's mother lived in Vista (San Diego), and my dad got a job offer at Loyola Marymount. So we picked an area halfway between," Ides said.  Ides has made a significant contribution to the success of a program that will make its eighth appearance in a state title game Friday.

She had earned a starting spot by the end of last season as the Ladycats posted a 33-1 record and beat Shasta of Redding for the state Division II title. Ides was the leading scorer in the title game with 14 points. She has started every game this season, averaging just more than 10 points a game and 6.1 rebounds and shooting 60 percent from the field.

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