By Rick Assad
For one half of Thursday night’s CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round girls’ basketball playoff game for Burbank High versus visiting Knight, it was close.
That was the good news, but the second half proved problematic for the Bulldogs who fell 56-42 and had their season come to an end.
Burbank was outscored 30-17 across the second half and shot 28 percent on seven of 25 from the field.
The Bulldogs were also outrebounded by the Hawks 43-25, and the edge was 20-12 in the second half.
Burbank took control of the first quarter 14-10 as sophomore forward Manina Tuputupu scored three of her team-high 15 points.
Tuputupu then added five points in the second period while junior guard Andrea Aparicio, who had a three-pointer in the first quarter, scored four of her 12 points in the same frame as the Bulldogs trailed 26-25 at halftime.
Burbank converted 10 of 21 for 47.6 percent and made four of six for 66.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Knight attempted 32 shots from the field and made 11 for 34.3 percent and drilled four of eight for 50 percent from the charity line and also grabbed 23 rebounds compared to Burbank’s 13.
Alexa Mirzaian is Burbank’s head coach and was proud of how her team played this game and throughout the campaign.
“It was a great season. I’m super proud of these girls,” she said. “It’s time to debrief and start preparing for next year.”
The Hawks (15-5) were led offensively by junior guard Kailan Holley with a game-high 23 points with 15 coming in the second half.
Junior guard Beautiful McBride added 18 points with 12 points being tallied in the opening half for Knight and the pair were tough to handle inside the paint.
A basket from McBride cut the Burbank advantage to 16-14 with 6:53 left in the second quarter.
McBride’s hoop with 3:27 left in the same period gave Knight a 22-21 edge.
Knight, which shot 42.1 percent on 24 of 57, limited Burbank, which made 17 of 46 for 36.9 percent, to five points in the third period and scored 14 points and pulled ahead 40-39 heading to the fourth quarter.
Tuputupu’s hoop tied the game at 30-30 with 3:27 left in the third period but McBride’s hoop and free throw with 1:53 left in the third period made it 34-30 in favor of the Hawks.
In that frame, Holley delivered six points and McBride added four points.
It was more of the same for the Hawks in the fourth period as Holley dropped nine points that included a three-pointer.
Sophomore guard Ani Khachatryan had five points for the Bulldogs (19-11) while junior guard Jolene Vartanian and sophomore guard Desirae Henson both had four points and junior guard Anabelle Setaghian added two points.
