By Rick Assad
For the entirety of the Pacific League girls’ basketball game between visiting Burroughs High and Burbank on Thursday night, saw the Bears in the face of the hosts.
What resulted was a 76-39 decision as senior guard Elizabeth Amoroso tallied a game-high 15 points and nailed three from three-point range and junior guard Jessica Mena contributed 14 points.
Burroughs outscored Burbank in every quarter and shot 58.1 percent on 32 of 55 from the floor.
Vicky Oganyan is the longtime Burroughs head coach and was confident her team would play well.
“Our game plan was to play solid defense. Speed up the game and stay disciplined and out of foul trouble,” she explained. “We did that and forced turnovers which helped us with gaining momentum on offense.”
Burbank (15-6 and 4-3 in league) made 16 of 41 shots for 39 percent and was led by junior guard Andrea Aparicio and sophomore forward Manina Tuputupu as both scored 13 points.
Sophomore guard Isabella Amayakyan contributed six of her 12 points in the opening frame as the Bears led 18-12 heading to the second period.
Alexa Mirzaian is Burbank’s head coach and was hopeful and still confident her team will continue to put in the time to get better.
“We need to keep working and follow the game plan,” she said. “We need to play hard and compete.”
Another 18-point frame followed as Mena scored six points and senior center Valentina Morales added four of her eight points as the Bears pulled in front 36-18.
A bucket from Morales with 4:07 left in the opening period made it 9-4.
Burroughs (12-7 and 6-1 in league) made 16 of 24 from the floor for 66.6 percent and Burbank drilled eight of 23 for 34.7 percent as Mena tallied six points and made her second three-pointer in the second period.
Amoroso had eight points in the third period and that included two of her three from three-point range during a 22-point outburst as the Bears led 58-35.
Amoroso’s basket with 4:59 remaining in the second period made it 26-14 and Mena’s trey with 4:06 left in the same frame increased the lead to 29-14.
Senior guard Alyssa Pracha scored five of her nine points in the fourth period as the Bears outscored the Bulldogs 18-4.
Junior center Polina Gorgeiz had eight points for the Bears and senior guard Grace Barton scored six points and all came via the three-point line and her three-point shot and 4:56 left in the third quarter made it 45-23.
Junior guard Krystal Villalta scored two points and sophomore forward Rielle Waddell also had two points for Burroughs which outrebounded Burbank 35-24 and also made eight three-pointers.
Sophomore guard Ani Khachatryan finished with six points for the Bulldogs.
Junior guard Rhiley Ocampo had three points, junior forward Jolene Vartanian had two points and junior guard Annabelle Setaghian also had two points for the Bulldogs which canned four from three-point territory.
