By Rick Assad
Just three players scored for the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team when it faced Crescenta Valley on Tuesday night in a Pacific League game.
The visiting Falcons saw seven players tally points and also outrebounded the Bears 50-25 and walked away with a 55-47 victory despite a furious rally in the fourth quarter when the team came within six points.
Sophomore guard Isabella Amayakyan dropped 25 points and nailed two from three-point range and senior guard Grace Barton added 12 points on four three-pointers for the Bears, but it wasn’t enough as junior forward Anik Nortikyan tossed in a game-high 30 points for the Falcons.
Junior guard Kelin Shajanian and junior guard Yashvi Ahir each accounted for seven points for Crescenta Valley, which shot 35.1 percent on 19 of 54 from the field.
Burroughs converted 17 of 54 for 31.4 percent but only went to the free-throw line eight times and made five for 62.5 percent.
Conversely the Falcons drilled 15 of 19 for 78.9 percent and had a 25-rebound edge which very likely helped the Falcons emerge with the win.
Longtime Burroughs head coach Vicky Oganyan wasn’t pleased with how her team hit the boards.
“We got outrebounded the whole game,” she noted. “We need to do a better job.”
The Bears (2-6 and 1-1 in league) saw Barton launch three from three-point range for nine points in the fourth quarter.
Junior guard Jessica Mena scored seven of her 10 points including a three-pointer in the fourth period for the Bears while Nortikyan countered with seven points.
When Amayakyan, who drilled three from three-point distance, scored with 5:57 left in the period, the Bears trimmed the lead to 45-34 and came even closer but couldn’t quite catch up.
The Falcons (6-4 and 2-0 in league) grabbed a 19-14 lead after one quarter as Nortikyan scored 10 points that included two free throws.
Amayakyan’s 11 points in the same frame kept the Bears close heading to the second quarter.
Burroughs outscored Crescenta Valley 10-9 in the second period as Amaykyan chimed in with nine points and had 20 points at the intermission.
Nortikyan, who made eight of 11 from the charity line, had just three points in the second period as the Falcons led 28-24 at halftime.
Crescenta Valley pulled down 24 rebounds to 15 caroms for Burroughs at halftime and nailed nine of 11 for 81.8 percent from the free-throw line compared to four of six for 66.6 percent for the Bears.
The Bears limited to five points in the third quarter while the Falcons scored 14 points and led 42-29 with Nortikyan adding 10 points.
Burroughs dropped eight three-pointers while Crescenta Valley nailed two treys.
