Solorio States Ladycats’ Case

PLACENTIA —  Catherine Solorio, one of two seniors in Brea Olinda’s starting lineup, has had her eyes on a state title since she was a freshman on the varsity.

In Saturday’s Southern Section Division II-AA semifinal against El Dorado, she made sure she would play for another one.

Solorio scored 16 points--12 in the second half--and complemented sophomore Chelsea Trotter’s 24 points as top-seeded Brea Olinda defeated fourth-seeded El Dorado, 65-37, in a nearly-packed gym at Valencia High.

“As I told the girls beforehand, this isn’t the biggest game of the season, but it’s the most important,” Brea Coach Jeff Sink said. “This guarantees us a spot in the state playoffs.”

The Ladycats (28-1), ranked No. 1 in the state, hope to win their 10th consecutive section title next week against third-seeded Troy, a 56-52 winner over second-seeded Bellflower. Both qualify for the state tournament.

“I needed to step up and lead the team,” said Solorio, a team captain. “We were rattled.”

Though Brea won by 28 points, it led by only one, 28-27, with 3:42 left in the third quarter. Little did anyone know that El Dorado (24-4) would go eight minutes without a field goal.

Junior Lindsey Davidson (10 points, seven steals) connected on a three-pointer and her steal led to Solorio’s layup; Jeri Costello scored three of her four points, then Solorio buried a three-pointer with 12 seconds left in the quarter. The one-point lead had become double-digits, 39-28.

That wasn’t the only cold spell El Dorado had. The Golden Hawks were 0 for 11 in shooting in the first quarter, falling behind by as many as nine points. They also missed the last five shots of the first half after pulling as close as one point and trailed, 23-19.

El Dorado had a tough time finding shots against Brea’s oppressive defense, going 11 for 38. And the Golden Hawks also worked hard on defense: Brea committed 19 first-half turnovers and finished with 30.

“We played so hard on defense,” said El Dorado’s Stephanie Patten [eight points], “it killed our offense.”

El Dorado pressured the Ladycats and caught them off guard.

“It took us [20 minutes] to figure out we needed to ball fake and spread the floor [for Trotter].”

Trotter was 12 of 17 from the field.,