Girls basketball: Some haters are ready to Sink his reputation

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Brea Olinda Coach Jeff Sink, left, catches flak like no other coach I know. Maybe people just have a built-in prejudice to Harry Shearer, right, lookalikes; maybe they resent that he coaches like a walking aneurysm, but it’s amazing how bad he gets it on the internet forums.

The latest is Brea’s 74-6 victory over El Modena, in which the Vanguards failed to make a field goal. Criticism flew that Sink couldn’t keep the score down to prevent the humiliation.

So I asked him about it.

‘I did not press one second of that game,’ Sink said. ‘All 15 kids played equal time. I rotated five in, five out, just like hockey. My biggest problem is we expect all 15 on our team to play as hard as they can at all times.

‘Do you start the starters and say they’ll play X number of minutes, and tell the next 10 players that they can’t shoot the ball? That sends a message to your kids that they can’t play as hard as they’re told to in practice.’

Sink continued: ‘I’m going to work on half-court stuff and stuff that requires discipline. We’d run the break in the first half, then pull it out and run the play.

‘She [El Modena Coach Lisa Serafin] knew we were good-sized. She put all five kids in the paint, trying to drop back and take away the layup. She was giving us six- to eight-foot jump shots, and Brea kids can make those shots.’

Brea shot 59% from the field. Brea won the first encounter, too, 88-17.

Here’s the thing: Brea is one of the best teams in the state, and El Modena is, well.... This stuff happens. Offensively, the Vanguards (1-20) have scored 20 or fewer points nine times. They average 24.8 points, and give up 61.7.

But there are even worse examples of lopsided scores against El Modena this season. Edison won, 83-3, and Woodbridge won, 74-6. Neither of those teams are as good as Brea. Edison essentially hand-picked El Modena as its first-round opponent in the Orange County Championship, though maybe the Chargers were doing everyone else a favor by taking on the Vanguards in an uncompetitive game.

When Sink took over the Brea program, his team beat someone -- Barstow, maybe??? -- something like 110-8 in the first round of an early-season tournament. He had the best team, and he was facing the tournament’s worst team. That’s the way tournaments are usually set up. But he told me his teams would not score 100 points again against an overmatched opponent like that. And, to his credit, I don’t think they have in the 14 years since.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Images by Christine Cotter/Los Angeles Times and movies.about.com