By Dick Dornan
MyBurbank Sports Editor
Despite not having the services of senior Ashley Linda at their disposal, the Burbank High girls’ basketball team didn’t miss a beat in a 63-20 dismantling of Pasadena Tuesday night.
Linda recently suffered a broken left foot in a tournament game against Alemany and is out four to six weeks. The Bulldogs regrouped knowing that others had to step up from this point forward to replace one of the team’s top scorers.
There was great execution on both ends of the court as Burbank raced to an early 16-2 lead in its Pacific League opener. Utilizing an aggressive 2-2-1 full court press, the Bulldogs made life miserable for Pasadena forcing nine first-quarter turnovers that led to 12 fast break points.
“Those are the things we’ve been working on. Trying to create turnovers up and down the floor,” Burbank coach Bruce Breeden said. “We felt that we could do that today. We came out and did what we needed to do.”
A driving layup through the heart of the Pasadena defense by Ratiana Karapet followed by a well-executed two-on-one fast break with Sharis Ghazeri finding Karapet for a layup gave BHS a 20-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Burbank (9-6, 1-0) continued to pour it on in the second period. Yazzy Sa’Dullah, who scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter, grabbed a rebound and put it back in for a score to make it 27-3 with 5:45 left in the second quarter.
Back-to-back steals in the press that led to easy layups by Karapet and Sa’Dullah increased the advantage to 37-11.
Karapet finished off the explosive first half with a defensive gem as she stole the ball at mid-court and went uncontested for a layup at the buzzer giving Burbank a commanding 41-11 lead going into the break.
Karapet and Sa’Dullah combined for 22 first-half points as BHS forced 17 turnovers.
The final two quarters were more of the same as Burbank continued to rattle Pasadena with its press and crisp ball movement on offense.
Sa’Dullah knocked down a “3” and Fatima Cisneros followed with another “3” that made it 49-11. The third quarter ended 54-17 while the fourth quarter was played with a running clock as Burbank closed out its ninth win of the season.
Sa’Dullah finished with an impressive stat line scoring 16 points, grabbing five rebounds, and adding three assists, three steals and for good measure, three blocks.
Karapet scored 13 points to go along with six steals and three assists. Ghazeri had four points, seven rebounds and three assists and Abby Troy scored nine points.
“With Ashley out we had people step up which was good but now we need that for the next 12 games until she comes back,” said Breeden.
Burbank next plays at Arcadia on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
