By Rick Assad
A dream season eluded the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team by one point on Saturday afternoon at the Felix Event Center on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in a CIF Southern Section Division V final.
A close match between Bishop Diego ended 42-41 when two free throws would have tied the game and sent it to overtime.
Burroughs senior guard Grace Barton’s first attempt swished through the hoop but the second missed as the Cardinals (27-4) celebrated a hard-fought victory.
Barton, who scored seven points and had two rebounds, was fouled with mere seconds left. The pressure to convert both free throws was enormous.
After making the initial shot, Bishop Diego’s head coach, Jeff Burich, called timeout to ice Barton the way football coaches try to rattle kickers before a field goal.
Barton has been a willing passer this season, led the team in three-pointers made, is a floor leader and drilled two of seven from beyond the three-point arc.
The game-winning shot was converted by Bishop Diego junior center Eden Wynne, who nailed a 12-footer with 6.8 seconds left.
Wynne finished with a team-best 16 points including 12 points in the second half and six points coming via three-pointers.
Wynne, who added nine rebounds and two assists, likes to take three-pointers and made two of six.
“Two-pointers are good but three-pointers are better,” she explained.
Burroughs is coached by Vicky Oganyan and she has led her team across 22 seasons to six semifinals before breaking through to reach the finals.
“We battled in a back and forth game that could have gone either way. We outrebounded and outshot them but give them credit for capitalizing on their opportunities,” she said. “Any time you get this far it’s disappointing to have it end like this but we are proud of our girls and their effort and what we have done to get to this stage.”
Burroughs shot 30.7 percent on 16 of 52 while Bishop Diego canned 15 of 44 for 34 percent and were outrebounded 40-30.
The Bears (22-11), whose biggest lead was six points with 5:21 left in the second quarter, were led by sophomore guard Isabella Amayakyan, who tallied a game-high 19 points and senior center Valentina Morales grabbed a game-best 19 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds and tossed in four points.
A basket by Amayakyan, who grabbed five caroms, with 6:32 remaining in the second period gave the Bears a 14-10 advantage and a hoop by Morales with 4:25 left increased the lead to 18-12.
Burroughs always plays in-your-face pressing defense, and it usually leads to turnovers and points. Bishop Diego employed the same strategy and was able to cause a good share of mistakes as each team turned the ball over 14 times.
Burroughs led 12-10 after the first quarter and pulled ahead 18-17 at the half as Amayakyan tallied six points.
Both teams had a case of the jitters in the opening half as neither team shot well as the Bears hit seven of 28 for 25 percent and the Cardinals made six of 27 for 22.2 percent.
The third quarter was a different story as both came out and threw haymakers at each other with both squads scoring 16 points.
Wynne tallied eight points and two three-pointers and Amayakan chimed in with nine points.
Senior guard Jaymi Coronado’s trey with 5:15 left in the third period made it 25-20 in favor of the Cardinals.
Coronado finished with eight points and tossed in four caroms and four assists.
Senior guard Luz Castro contributed nine points with five boards and three assists for Bishop Diego.
Some of the three-point attempts by Bishop Diego, whose biggest advantage was five points with 5:26 left in the third period, were really deep and while some were off the mark, many found the hole and the 12-point differential was just one reason they were able to hold on for the win.
The Cardinals made seven of 20 for 35 percent from three-point range while the Bears drilled three of 19 for 15.7 percent.
Junior guard Jessica Mena added seven points, three rebounds and two assists for the Bears while senior guard Elizabeth Amoroso tossed in four points and six assists and four rebounds.
