For a good portion of Tuesday’s Pacific League girls’ basketball contest between visiting Burroughs High and Crescenta Valley, the Indians were in the driver’s seat.
This didn’t matter too much as the Falcons seized control in the last minutes and held on for a 46-43 win.
“Having our best player [Faith Boulanger] on the bench didn’t help. We made some turnovers,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “We should be taking care of the ball better. You gotta let your team play. They’re going to make mistakes.”
The Indians had several empty trips late in the match due to turnovers, but the key hoop was turned in by senior shooting Caity Bouchard (15 points) with 1:50 left in the fourth period as the Falcons moved ahead 38-37.
The win by the Falcons snapped the Indians’ nine game-winning streak and gave Crescenta Valley a 7-5 record and 3-1 mark in league play, while the Indians are 9-1 and 2-1 in league action.
“It’s a long season. It’s one game,” Oganyan said of the lone setback. “It helps you realize all the things you need to work on to get better.”
Burroughs, which made one of 11 shots from the floor at one juncture late in the final period, forged ahead 10-7 in the opening frame and then darted in front 21-15 at the intermission.
The Indians were in charge 33-26 heading in the final frame and were ahead until about two minutes were left.
Leading Burroughs was sophomore power forward Kayla Wrobel, who dropped in a team-best 13 points.
The Falcons, who hit nine of 14 from the free-throw and five of 11 from the floor in the fourth quarter, were led by senior guard Georgina Kregorian with a game-best 19 points.
“You’re playing a game with league ramifications in the second week of December,” Crescenta Valley coach Jason Perez said. “Usually we take December to figure it work. Today we grew up and stepped up. The defense was the key.”
Burroughs, which shot 28 percent from the floor (14 of 50) took a three-point lead in the opening frame as senior small forward Nicole Rumfola scored three of her six points as the Indians converted four of 20 shots from the floor.
The Indians, who drilled 13 of 25 from the charity line for 52 percent, converted three of 19 shots in the second period.
Burroughs held a six-point edge at the intermission as Boulanger (11 points) scored five points.
Boulanger was slapped with her fourth foul midway through the third quarter and missed about half of the fourth period.
Kregorian scored five points in the first quarter and then added two points in the second stanza as the Falcons (31.1 percent on 14 of 45 from the field) made three of 12 in the first period and three of 10 in the second quarter.
The third period saw the Indians drill four of eight from the floor and hold a 12-11 scoring edge with sophomore power forward Kayla Wrobel tallying six of her eight points.
In that frame, Kregorian scored eight points as the Falcons were successful on three of 12 from the floor and five of eight from the free-throw stripe and made 16 of 26 for 61.5 percent during the game.
Senior guard Camryn Lotka scored five points for the Indians, while senior point guard Ariana Farias dropped in four.
Sophomore guard Dyani Del Castillo and senior guard Sophie Hawkins each had two points and junior guard A’sia Morales added one point.
