By Rick Assad
Shooting was poor from both Burbank High and visiting Arcadia and turnovers were far too many from each side and despite all of this and the Bulldogs falling behind throughout, a win by the hosts was possible.
What was needed during the last few seconds was a length of the court run plus a bucket, but this didn’t happen as the Apaches held off the Bulldogs 32-31 in a Pacific League girls’ basketball game on Friday night.
Burbank (6-16 and 3-7 in league) trailed after the first quarter 13-5, and 17-9 at the intermission and 22-18 after three periods.
The Bulldogs sank four of 30 field goals in the first half for 13.3 percent but shot much better in the second half after hitting seven of 23 for 30.4 percent.
The Apaches converted seven of 33 for 21.2 percent over the first 16 minutes and made four of 17 for 23.5 percent in the second half.
The fourth period began with Burbank missing its first three attempts before junior point guard Leandra Nazarian, who led the Bulldogs with a game-best 10 points, dropped a three-pointer.
A miss followed but the Bulldogs then connected on three straight field goals as junior Lili Okhoyan (five points) scored.
Junior shooting guard Arevita Keshishyan found the range on a basket as Arcadia’s lead was trimmed to 32-26 with 53.2 seconds left.
When Nazarian splashed a three-pointer with 26.9 left the advantage was sliced to 32-29.
Burbank made one of its two shots that included a hoop from sophomore point guard Ani Dionysian for her only points as 6.6 seconds remained, and the Bulldogs were behind 32-31.
In that final period, Arcadia (4-12 and 3-7 in league) nailed four of eight for 50 percent but one of six for 16.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Freshman guard Maddie Tran, who hit a shot from three-point range, tallied six of her team-best nine points in the first period for the Apaches.
In that same period, senior point guard Nikaela Damasen nailed a three-pointer and freshman guard Andrea Aparicio scored a hoop for her only points.
Arcadia was held to four points in the second frame as freshman guard/forward Hailey Lam scored four of her six points while the Bulldogs managed four points in the second period.
The Bulldogs had their second-best quarter in the third frame with nine points as Nazarian dropped three points.
On the opposite side of the ledger, senior forward/center Katelyn Teav scored two of her six points via free throws while senior center Sadhanaa Umasankar accounted for two charity shots en route to three points.
The other Burbank player to score was junior power forward Lauren Navarro who tallied four points that included a hoop in the second period and two free throws in the third frame.
The Bulldogs converted six of 11 free throws for 54.5 percent and collected 51 rebounds while the Apaches made six of 18 from the charity line for 33.3 percent and grabbed 37 boards
