By Rick Assad
Like a rocket taking off into outer space, the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team quickly built a 13-point advantage in the first quarter and then a 21-point cushion at halftime in a Pacific League match versus host Burbank on Friday night.
That spread would be 22 points heading into the fourth quarter and the game ended with the score 60-41.
Senior guard Rachel Little and freshman point guard Malia Harney each scored 22 points for the Bears who shot 43.3 percent from the field on 23 of 53.
“Both of their shooting was very important early in the game. We hadn’t shot the ball well in our last game, but shooters have to keep shooting,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “Malia and Rachel both came out with a lot of confidence and took the open shots that were there for them in the offense.”
Little drilled a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter as did Harney, who hammered six from three-point range, as the Bears made five of 13 shots while the Bulldogs converted one of 10 from the field.
Harney’s three-pointer with 3:25 left in the opening frame made it 7-0 and Little’s trey extended the advantage to 10-0 with 3:02 on the clock and the Bears would lead 16-3 after the first eight minutes.
Harney accounted for three more three-point shots in the second period while Little scored seven points.
“This is definitely the best game I’ve had in a while and it was a very fun game to play,” said Little who made four three-pointers. “There was a lot of adrenaline and the support from Coach V and my teammates definitely helped with my confidence on the court. This was a very good win for us.”
When Harney’s three-pointer swished through the net, the Bears moved ahead 26-7 with 4:52 left in the second period and would hold a 34-13 advantage at halftime.
Little’s nine points in the third quarter capped her evening scoring-wise, but Burbank, which converted 12 of 49 for 24.4 percent, responded with an eight-point frame in the same period from senior power forward Shelby Cribbs, who finished with 11 points as the Bulldogs trailed 49-27 through three quarters.
“First off, hats off to Vicky and Burroughs. We had a rough night shooting the ball,” Burbank coach Kris Jabourian said. “We allowed two players to really beat us. We just failed to understand who to close out on.”
Sophomore guard Mariam Fahs contributed all of her four points in the fourth quarter for the Bears including a hoop with 1:55 remaining in the period for a 56-40 lead and Harney’s bucket with 1:22 on the ticker made the score 58-40.
Senior power forward Isabella Roderick scored in three of the four quarters and finished with eight points for the Bears (12-9 and 7-1 in league) while senior point guard Ivana Razov had two points and senior guard Kylee Indefenzo also added two points.
Senior shooting guard Rheanna Ocampo led the way for the Bulldogs (11-10 and 5-3 in league) with 15 points and all of her points came via the three-point shot.
Freshman point guard Sahara Jackson dropped five points for the Bulldogs and but was especially effective passing the ball.
“Sahara stepped up big time with only five points but 12 assists,” Jabourian said.
Meanwhile, senior power forward Karen Casillas added four points and when she scored and made a free throw the Bears’ lead was trimmed to 51-40 with 3:31 left in the game.
“Karen got into early foul trouble which really hurt us,” Jabourian said. “We will bounce back and recover from this.”
For the game, Burroughs made 10 from three-point range and Burbank finished with eight three-pointers.
Junior shooting guard Nikaela Damasen contributed four points for Burbank and sophomore power forward Lauren Navarro tossed in two points.
