Any time two coaches with over 1,000 wins combined square off it is almost a given that nothing is going to come easy.
To no surprise that is exactly what happened when Burroughs hosted Long Beach Millikan in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2A girls basketball playoffs.
Both teams pressed each other and made it difficult just to even get a shot off.
The two teams had squared off less than three weeks ago, but this time the result was significantly different as Burroughs rolled to a 40-12 victory.
“It kind of helped knowing what they already had,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “We actually had a league game the next day so we had some people who did not play.”
Oganyan, who surpassed the 400 career victory total this season, was going up against Lorene Morgan, who has been at Millikan since 1989. She surpassed 600 career wins in 2022.
Morgan’s team won 32-28 when the teams squared off late last month.
“I think their rotation was much different,” Morgan said of Burroughs in comparison to the first game. “We could barely set up an offense. The last game we were able to handle the ball and run some (plays) and we were not able to do that in this game. I thought we did a good job at the beginning of the game keeping them off of the boards.”
Burroughs will move on to the second round of the playoffs Saturday on the road at Village Christian of Sun Valley.
The Bears received a fine performance from junior Grace Barton, who hit five 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 15 points.
“The last two weeks of the season she has been playing well,” Oganyan said.
Burroughs (20-9) never trailed in the contest and led 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.
From then on, it was all Burroughs as the Rams managed just one field goal over the final three quarters.
Burroughs got 10 points from senior Mariam Fahs, eight from junior center Valentina Morales, five from junior Elizabeth Amoroso and two from sophomore Jessica Mena.
The Bears went up 24-7 at halftime and led 38-12 after three quarters.
Millikan was led by Ky-lliya Clardy, who had six points.
