By Rick Assad
An obstacle stood in the way of the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team on Saturday night but after a little more than an hour versus visiting Culver City in a CIF Southern Section Division V second-round game, a 51-23 decision emerged for the hosts, and it catapulted the Bears to a quarterfinal game versus Carter of Rialto.
The game Wednesday will be held at Carter and will begin at 7 p.m.
For now, the Bears (20-10) can bank on its two impressive playoff wins and prepare for what should be a very good game against a solid opponent that is 18-9 overall.
Vicky Oganyan is the longtime Burroughs head coach and as a defensive-minded mentor, was glad at how her team pressed throughout.
“We were locked in on our defensive assignments tonight,” she said. “We rebounded well and ran a good offense.”
The Bears, who have won seven of their last nine games, collected 43 rebounds, and the Centaurs grabbed 27 caroms and were outrebounded 24-17 in the opening half.
Burroughs never trailed and were led in scoring by sophomore guard Isabella Amayakyan, who delivered a game-best 20 points while junior guard Jessica Mena added 11 points and senior guard Elizabeth Amoroso chimed in with 10 points.
The Bears shot 38 percent on 19 of 50 from the field and also made eight of 15 for 53.3 percent from the free-throw line.
The Centaurs (13-13) were successful on 20 percent after making 10 of 50 from the field and converted two of two for 100 percent from the charity line.
Burroughs came out and led 12-6 after one quarter and forged a 28-13 advantage at halftime.
Amayakyan tallied eight points in the opening period and added seven in the second quarter and had 15 points while the team made 11 of 30 for 36.6 percent.
Amayakyan’s bucket with 1:24 left on the clock in the second frame made it 28-13.
Mena scored four points in the opening stanza but didn’t score in the second period while Amoroso had two points in the second period.
Amoroso tallied eight points in the third frame as the Bears led 42-21 and Mena tossed in seven points including a three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Senior guard Grace Barton finished with six points and made a trey in the second and third quarters.
Senior center Valentina Morales contributed two points in the second period and sophomore forward Rielle Waddell slipped in two points in the second quarter as the Bears led 17-6 with 6:40 left.
Culver City was paced by guard/forward Makenna Lohmann’s eight points and tallied six of her points in the second half.
Senior forward Lua Maghzi and guard/forward Beatrix Wada both accounted for four points for the Centaurs.
