By Rick Assad
It wasn’t a very good time for the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team to have an offensive power outage when it faced Santa Margarita on Wednesday night before a decent size crowd.
Facing a top-flight opponent in a CIF Southern Section Division II A quarterfinal game, points were going to be hard to come by.
They were as the visiting Eagles secured a 47-33 decision on the strength of three players combining for 35 points and also playing a fierce defense that caused problems for the Bears in the half court.
Senior guard Ashley Martin and sophomore center Valentina Morales each scored eight points for Burroughs which shot 29.5 percent on 13 of 44 from the field.
Junior guard Mariam Fahs scored six points for the Bears with four points coming in the opening half.
“It was a tough game. We held them and even were in the lead before halftime but after that our offense weakened and we couldn’t get easy baskets,” Fahs said. “Nothing was in our favor. The referees called everything for them and not for us.”
Fahs addressed the Bears’ defense.
“Our defense was pretty strong at the half court, but they still managed to get through and took the lead,” she said. “We fought really hard and gave it all so I’m proud of all of us despite the loss. We’ll come back much stronger next year.”
Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan knew it was going to be a tough challenge.
“We handled their full court pressure,” Oganyan said. “In the half court, we had a hard time executing offensively. Missed some easy shots. It really hurt not being able to score for long stretches.”
Senior power forward Lea-line Romain led Santa Margarita with a game-best 14 points and senior point guard Emma Tijanich added 11 points that included two from three-point range.
Sophomore shooting guard Charlie Scibelli contributed 10 points for Santa Margarita which made 17 of 51 for 33.3 percent.
One key statistic is that the Eagles (19-11) converted six three-pointers to none for the Bears (25-6).
The first quarter was close as Santa Margarita led 12-8 with Tijanich tossing in five points that included a trey and Romain added four points.
When Tijanich scored with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter, the Eagles led 5-0.
Burroughs rallied, outscoring the visitors 14-11 in the second period and trailed 23-22 at halftime.
Morales, after tallying two points in the first period, scored four points in the second period while freshman guard Claire Hackney, who also scored two points in the opening frame, scored four points in the second period.
Hackney’s bucket with 6:26 left in the second frame tied it at 12-12 and Martin’s hoop gave the Bears an 18-14 advantage and 3:55 left on the clock in the same period.
The match swung in favor of the Eagles in the second half as they outscored the Bears 24-11.
During that stretch, the Bears shot four of 21 for 19 percent while the Eagles made eight of 25 for 32 percent.
Romain found her shooting touch in the third period as she accounted for seven points and her hoop with 6:06 left saw the Eagles pull ahead 29-24.
Tijanich added six points including her second three-pointer that made it 35-24 and 3:10 left on the ticker.
The Eagles scored 16 points in that period while limiting the Bears to four points, all coming from Martin as Burroughs trailed 39-26 after three periods.
The fourth period was a grind as each had trouble finding the basket with Santa Margarita outscoring Burroughs 8-7 as Scibelli poured in four points.
After sophomore point guard Sydnie Lendsey scored with 3:10 left, Santa Margarita was in front 41-26.
Senior forward Mia Paz scored two points for the Bears, freshman guard Jessica Mena scored two points and sophomore guard Elizabeth Amoroso added a free throw for her only point.
Burroughs stepped to the free-throw line 10 times and made seven for 70 percent and Santa Margarita nailed seven of 14 for 50 percent.
