No. 1 Brea Olinda and No. 2 Mater Dei tangle again

There was talk that the girls basketball teams from Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Brea Olinda (Brea) would tangle at last month's Nike Extravaganza, one of the West Coast's top two-day showcases.

After all, both powerhouses were in the event hosted by Mater Dei. It certainly would have been a fantastic draw.

But a bad idea, both coaches agreed.

"I don't think either team had the energy," Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan said. "It's a pretty draining experience."

Both squads needed to save up for the inevitable - tonight's CIF Southern Section Division IAA championship game showdown at the Anaheim Convention Center.

They come in as the nation's top two teams - the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 has Brea Olinda (29-0) ranked No. 1 and Mater Dei (28-1) at No. 2. The MaxPreps Freeman (computer) rankings has it reversed.

Either way, all national rankings have it the same: these are the best of the best, with up to 10 Division I players on the court at one time.

While all eyes on the boys basketball scene will be on a likely St. Anthony-St. Patrick New Jersey game in the middle of the next week - also No. 1 versus No. 2 - this is equivalent in the girls game.

"It's a war, it's a battle, it's just incredibly intense," said Brea star 6-foot-2 center Justine Hartman, who is headed to UCLA.

Hartman missed all of last season with a torn ACL but has come back pointed and focused. She's the team's third-leading scorer at 11.8 per game and the squad's leading rebounder at more than 10 per game.

But, like all the Wildcats, Hartman has played not much more than half of most games. Brea average margin of victory is 35.1 points. Mater Dei's is 37.2.

She missed last year's two meetings between the two squads, a 47-43 Brea Olinda victory at midseason and Mater Dei's 51-46 triumph for the CIF Southern California Division II crown. Mater Dei went on to win the state championship with a 58-43 win over Carondelet, which secured a mythical national title.

"It was really, really hard to watch (last year's Southern California title game)," Hartman said. "It was devastating. But it made me work harder to get to this point and never take a single game, a single play for granted."

As heated as this game promises to be, it's likely just a precursor to a rematch in two weeks.

No matter the result tonight, both will advance to the Southern California playoffs. That is, if they don't beat each other up too much.

"We definitely respect one another," said Mater Dei star forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who is headed to the University of Connecticut and the leading candidate for national Player of the Year honors. "But there's no love-lost. It's a very intense rivalry."

Though the teams score in similar droves - Mater Dei averages 72.7 points per game and Brea Olinda 70.6 - each goes about it different.

Mater Dei relies heavily on Mosqueda-Lewis, at more than 20 points per game, though front-liners USC-bound Alexyz Vaioletama and Jessica Duarte (Cal State Northridge) are double-digit scorers. Vaioletama, who along with Mosqueda-Lewis are McDonald's All-Americans, also sat out like season with an injury.

The key for the Monarchs is arguably the nation's top point guards and juniors, 6-1 Jordan Adams. When she gets to the basket and scores, Mater Dei is pretty unbeatable.

Brea Olinda, meanwhile, relies on no one player, but droves of talented stars. What sets the Wildcats apart is their quality depth, ball movement and ability to score from anywhere on the court.

Their leading scorer is actually Amber Van Deudekom (Northern Colorado) at 14.3 per game, followed by Jeanier Olukemi (12.5), Hartman, Keitra Wallace (10.8), Alexis Perry (9.8) and Taylor Spears (8.3).

That's some balance.

"They are very difficult to defend and impeccably coached," Kiernan said. "It's the ultimate challenge."

Brea Olinda coach Jeff Sink has led the Wildcats to four of the team's state-record nine state titles, the last coming in 2009.

The team got a scare in the quarterfinals, a 58-56 win over Santiago. Before that the Wildcats had few competitive games since the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, where it beat Long Beach Poly for a second time this year. Poly, which was shocked and eliminated in the Division IAA quarterfinals by Santa Monica, handed Mater Dei its only loss this season 61-56 on Dec. 21, also at Nike TOC.

Mater Dei has won 20 straight since, the closest margin was 13 points, and twice it has defeated Santa Monica, including a 57-37 semifinal game on Tuesday.

"It's good for Orange County, it's good for Southern California, it's good for the nation," Kiernan said of tonight's match-up. "They're No. 1, and they're a legit No. 1. Hopefully, we can give them a game."

MaxPreps correspondent Martin Henderson contributed to this report.

Southern Section Division IAA bracket.