Tag Archives: Burroughs Girls Basketball

Having Faith in Life’s Journey

So many teenagers that play sports dream of earning a Division 1 college scholarship that will play for books, tuition, room and board for four years.

Burroughs High senior Faith Boulanger is a 6-foot-1 returning All-CIF girls’ basketball. She envisions playing her sport beyond after her time at Burroughs.

But she takes a very mature approach and isn’t concerned about playing for a Division 1 college. She is looking at preparing herself for life after as she aspires to either study film or pursue a degree in athletic administration.

(Photo by Ross A. Benson)

“Division 1 would be greatly financially, but personally I would prefer going Division 2 because that way I’m able to have more of a college experience,” she said. “With Division 2 there is more time opening so I can go join a sorority or join a club and be a part of more stuff on campus. I don’t want to be at the school just for basketball. I’m there for the whole experience.”

Because Division 1 athletes in many sports like basketball have everything paid for, Boulanger realizes it also comes with a lot of sacrifice and limits one’s ability to have more personal freedom.

“Division 1 is always an option. If I got a D1 offer, I would look into it,” she said. “Most of the schools that have shown interest are Division 2 schools.”

Boulanger said Cal State San Bernardino is one of the Division 2 schools that has shown the most interest. She said Concordia University has also shown interest as well as Pepperdine, which plays Division 1.

“I’ve been in contact with them a lot through the entire process,” she said of Cal State San Bernardino. “I want to take my time to look at every school that shows interest. It is where I am going to be the next four years of my life and I don’t want to just a pick a school because they have a good basketball program.”

For now, Boulanger is trying to stay to fit along with her teammates in hopes of emerging from Covid-19.

“With Burroughs we started doing workouts via Zoom. The whole team will get on a Zoom call and we do conditioning over Zoom. Every other day we do conditioning and on the days we don’t do conditioning we’re shooting. We’re still getting shots up, we’re still working on ball handling. Of course it is not the same. We’re not going to be in as good of shape as we are usually, but we will be in okay shape for when we do start up again.”

Longtime Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said she has been blessed to have coached Boulanger the last three years.

“She is a difference maker for us on the court and we are able to play her at multiple positions based on our team needs. She has handled pressure at the point guard position, has played on the perimeter as a shooting guard, and also has scored in the paint,” Oganyan said. “She led our team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and blocks this season. Faith has really embraced working with her teammates to continue enhancing our Burroughs culture. We are most proud of her growth as a person and player and looking forward to what is to come her senior year.”

Boulanger, like so many, is curious to see what will happen with the upcoming high school sports season.

“Our coaches have said that we will probably start in January. It will be interesting to how it all goes down,” she said. “The worst thing that could happen is not having a season at all, which I know for us seniors, we would be completely devastated.”

Boulanger is easy to please. She just wants to have another chance to play against her main league rivals in Burbank, Crescenta Valley and Pasadena.

“The crowd was energetic and we were pumped up,” she said of the games with Burbank.

Faith Boulanger may never play basketball in front of a televised audience and she’s fine with that. She would rather set up a path for herself that leads to success in life after basketball.

Valiant Effort Not Enough for Burroughs Girls Basketball

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If the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team played the first half of its CIF Southern Division 2A semifinal match against San Clemente the way it did in the second half, the Indians might be playing for a CIF title next weekend.
But the lack in consistency and 20 turnovers proved to be too much to overcome Saturday night as host San Clemente earned a 41-29 victory.

“We talked about it at halftime to just try to relax and execute and pretend we’re at practice,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “I think some were maybe rattled by how big the game was. We were just trying to relax and play like we know how to play.”
Burroughs (25-7) will not get a chance to play for a CIF title, but will get to move on to the state playoffs following next week’s CIF title contests.
The Indians never led in the contest, but turned a 15-points halftime deficit into a very close game.

Burroughs’ intensity forced a number of jump ball situations as the Indians were often first to get loose balls.
Burroughs went on a 8-0 run in the third quarter that was started by a Dyani Del Castillo free throw. Faith Boulanger followed up with a pair of free throws and Del Castillo hit a three-point shot with 2:17 left in the third quarter to start getting everyone on the Burroughs sideline excited as the San Clemente lead was down to 27-20. After a San Clemente turnover, a basket by Kayla Wrobel brought things to within five, as it was 27-22.

A basketball by sophomore guard Noor Fahs with 5:11 left to play made things interesting as Burroughs had once again cut San Clemente’s lead to just five at 34-29.
But that was the points Burroughs would see.

“We’re still a young team, so we have a lot of learning to do,” Boulanger said. “Once halftime came we realized we could do this, we just need to get calm and execute.”
Boulanger led her team with 11 points and had six rebounds. Del Castillo finished with nine points. Wrobel had six points and Fahs finished with six.
San Clemente (27-3) was led by Jessica Blaine, who had 14 points. The Tritons will play Bishop Amat of La Puente for the CIF title after Bishop Amat defeated Palos Verdes Peninsula 66-52 in the other semifinal.

Burroughs Girls Basketball Headed Back to CIF Semifinals

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Being able to play under pressure is something that separates the good teams from the great teams.
Wednesday night the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team stayed calm when things could have gotten out of hand.

The end result was a 41-39 victory over host Whittier Christian in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs.
“We’ve been there before and I think this team has matured. We’ve come a long way from November,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “I’m so proud of the kids. It was basically up to them and they got it done.”

Burroughs (25-6) will now travel to play top seeded San Clemente Saturday in the semifinals. It is Burroughs first trip to the semifinals since 2016. San Clemente defeated Summit of Fontana 78-67 in another quarterfinal contest.
One key reason Burroughs advanced was due to strong shooting from the free-throw line. The Indians made 18 of 24 as a team.
Junior Sydney Martin came off the bench to hit seven of eight free throws, including all of her attempts during the crucial fourth quarter.

“I cancelled it out and just focused on my form. I realized that it was pretty much all on me there and I wanted to deliver for my team,” Martin said. “I just didn’t let my emotions get the best of me.”

The Indians never trailed in the contest. While they were never in complete control, Burroughs appeared to be quite comfortable until the final moments.

Faith Boulanger warming up for Burroughs quarterfinal contest with Whittier Christian.

Whittier Christian’s Joleen Corona hit a three pointer with 18 seconds left to cut Burroughs’ lead to 39-38.
The home side then was able to regain possession after having the arrow in their favor on a jump ball situation.
But Whittier Christian missed a pair of free throws with six seconds left. Martin then came away with a rebound and was immediately fouled. She then stepped up and hit two big free throws to give Burroughs a three-point cushion.
Whittier Christian scored a free throw with less than a second left on the clock.

Burroughs was impressive in keeping things together in the second quarter in which star forward Faith Boulanger missed due to foul trouble.
She still led Burroughs with 14 points. Kayla Wrobel had a strong effort, particularly in the second quarter when she scored six of her 10 points.
Dyani Del Castillo finished with four points. Noor Fahs and Sophie Hawkins each had three points.

CIF Releases Winter Sports Playoff Division Placings

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The CIF Southern Section released the playoff division placings for all winter sports teams on Friday.
The placement determines what divisions each sports team will be competing in should they advance to postseason play.

The team with arguably the best chance of winning a CIF title in the winter, the Burroughs boys’ soccer team, was placed in Division 3 and will be one of 55 schools competing for the Division 3 title.

(Photo by Ross A Benson)

The defending league champion Indians return a strong core led by senior midfielder Carlos Rosales and All-CIF junior winger Manny Gonzalez.
The Burbank High boys’ soccer team was placed in Division 5.
The Burroughs girls’ basketball team was one of 34 teams placed in Division 2A.
The Indians are led by junior All-CIF pick Faith Boulanger.
Burbank High’s girls’ team was placed in Division 3A.

The Burroughs girls’ soccer team was placed in Division 4. Burbank High’s girls’ team was placed in Division 5.

In boys basketball, Burbank High is one of 40 schools that will compete for the 2A championship.

The Burroughs boys’ basketball team was placed in Division 3A.

For girls water polo, Burroughs was placed in Division 5 and Burbank High will be in Division 6.

A Look Back at the Best of 2018

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The 2018 year in sports in Burbank was not the best, nor the worst on record. The best individual performances were in track and field, as Burroughs Jagdeep Chahal was the CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion in the boys 1,600 meters. Elizabeth Switzer led the Burroughs girls’ track team by qualifying for the state championships in the pole vault. Burroughs golfer Kiara Hernandez was also outstanding in being the best in the Pacific League. The following is a look back at the best teams that Burbank and Burroughs highs put forth in 2018.

10. Burroughs boys soccer
The Indians went 15-9-1 in 2018 and finished second in the Pacific League with a young core that was made up mostly of sophomores.
Carlos Rosales led the midfield and Carter Wells became the heart of the defense. Freshman Manny Gonzalez scored 16 goals, a program record under coach Mike Kodama. This group will get only better in 2019 and 2020.
9. Burroughs softball
The Indians finished runner-up to Crescenta Valley in the Pacific League standings. But Burroughs once again put together a solid season, finishing with a 14-5-1 record and advancing to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs. Pitcher Presley Miraglia moved to play at Cal State Long Beach.
8. Burroughs girls soccer
The Indians had a stellar season going 15-3-3 overall to place second in league. Burroughs won its first CIF Southern Section playoff game since 2009 with a wild-card victory over Brentwood School. Freshman Lauryn Bailey and junior Abbie Riggs were two of the Indians’ key offensive players. Olivia Cashman and Emily McHorney were two other top players.
7. Burroughs girls cross country
The Indians finished second in the Pacific League behind Burbank, ending a domination by Crescenta Valley and or Arcadia, that had won the league title every year for more than a quarter century. Burroughs also went on to advance to the CIF Southern Section finals. Sophomore Jordan Guzman and freshman Sophia Navarro led the way for a team that figures to have created arguably the most competitive rivalry with Burbank High of any in the city.
6. Burbank football
The Bulldogs turned in yet another fine season, even though they lost the league title to Arcadia. Burbank won every game it was expected to win and put together a fine 7-4 campaign. Seniors Matthew Porras, Erik Harutyunyan and Duncan Smith will definitely be remembered for the mark they left at the school and all are projected to play in college.
5. Burroughs girls basketball

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

The Indians turned in another fine season in 2018, finishing with a 23-8 record and a share of the Pacific League title. The team was blessed with a solid freshmen core who are now sophomores, led by Faith Boulanger and Kayla Wrobel. This has consistently been one of the top teams in the city under veteran coach Vicky Oganyan and that doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon.
4. Burbank boys track and field

The Bulldogs captured the Pacific League dual meet title in coach Darin Wolf’s final season. Burbank counted on hurdler Sergio Aguilar, as well as a solid sprint crew led by Cole Le’au, Oladele Hospidales and Bryan David. Victor Goli led a deep and young distance running core.
3. Burroughs girls volleyball

(Photo by © Ross A Benson)

The Indians had an outstanding season under coach Edwin Real. capturing the Pacific League title. Burroughs went 27-9 and reached the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section 3 playoffs, narrowly losing to eventual CIF champion Village Christian in five games. Juliana Van Loo went on to earn All-CIF honors. Burroughs figures to be strong again next year with Lydia Grote returning to lead the way.
2. Burroughs boys volleyball

Photo By: Edward Tovmassian

The Indians won their ninth consecutive Pacific League title under coach Joel Brinton. Burroughs also advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, only to be eliminated by national power Loyola of Los Angeles. Diego Rosal and Cole Kaitz were the leaders for Burroughs.

1. Burbank girls cross country

Sol Fernandez

The Bulldogs won their first league title outright since 1978 and advanced to the CIF Finals, finishing 10th in Division 1. Burbank was led by senior Shalom Mejia and junior Sol Fernandez. Although this was an experienced group that will lose several top runners to graduation, there is a great group coming up replace those that will depart. Expect Burbank to be very strong again in 2019.

Burroughs Girls Basketball Stunned by Pasadena

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(Photo By Ross A Benson)

The race to the Pacific League title just got a little more difficult for the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team.

The Indians, winners of at least a share of the league title five out of the last six years, got edged out at home Thursday night by upstart Pasadena High, which rallied for a 57-56 win.

“In the fourth quarter we made too many mistakes,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “I thought we played hard. I liked today’s effort. Our effort was better, but we still made some mistakes.”
Burroughs (10-3, 3-2 in the league) traded the lead 12 times with the visiting Bulldogs.
The Indians led by as many as 10 at one point in the third quarter and by as much as six in the final quarter.

But the Indians were unable to maintain the momentum.
A short jumper by Kayla Wrobel gave Burroughs a 56-55 lead with 1:13 to play. Following a timeout, Pasadena’s Sydney Brumfield came back to score with 1:03 left, giving the Bulldogs only their second lead of the second half. But Burroughs would not score again.

(Photo By Ross A Benson)

“That’s what we’re working on. We’re trying to put together a whole game where we’re playing well offensively and defensively,” Oganyan said.
Pasadena (6-3, 4-1) received a stellar performance from junior Kamesha Moore, who scored 21 of her game-high 27 points in the second half.

(Photo By Ross A Benson)

“I think this team is beginning to start seeing themselves more seriously and see themselves as a contender,” first-year Pasadena coach Melissa Sanchez said. “They know they should be the team to beat. I think that building their confidence in their abilities together rather than separate has been the key focus this year.”

Pasadena jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game before Burroughs came back to take a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Indians extended the lead to 31-25 at halftime.

Burroughs led 39-29 following a three-point play by sophomore Faith Boulanger with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Pasadena fought back to tie things at 44 heading into the final quarter.
Burroughs was led by Boulanger, who had 20 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Wrobel, who is also a sophomore, had 12 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

Freshman Noor Fahs had 10 points for Burroughs. Dyani Del Castillo had six points. Camryn Lotka and A’sia Morales each had three points for the Indians and Nicole Rumfola had two points.

Burroughs Girls Basketball Gets Job Done in Win Over Buena

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If anyone is going to knock Buena High out of the CIF Southern Section playoffs in girls’ basketball they have to be doing something right.

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

Burroughs High met that challenge Thursday night and came out successful, defeating the most victorious program in state history 41-38 in first round of the Division 2AA playoffs.

“It feels so great,” said Burroughs freshman Faith Boulanger, who had a game-high 16 points along with nine rebounds. “I’m excited because nobody expected to go this far. We heard they had a really good coach and we were like gosh this is not going to be good. But then we realized we just need to keep calm and our coach does a great job scouting out other teams so we know what to do when it comes to it.”

Burroughs (22-7) didn’t panic after Buena came out pressing defensively to start the game.

“At first we weren’t ready,” Boulanger said. “Once we got used to it and calmed down we were able to handle it really well.”

Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan praised her team for its defensive effort.

“I thought we did a good job defensively because I think they’ve been averaging in the 60s. I was worried about their offense,” Oganyan said. “I have a lot of respect for both of the coaches there. They have a great team and a good program.

Burroughs will play at JSerra High in San Juan Capistrano on Saturday in a second-round contest.

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

Buena coach David Guenther, who is in his 11^th year as the head coach after taking the over the program from Joe Vaughn, the winningest high school girls’ coach in state history, praised Burroughs.

“They (Burroughs) were prepared. They did a great job defensively. They threw some stuff at us that the kids weren’t ready for. We have a lot of youth,” said Guenther, who ironically is now assisted by Vaughn.” They executed a game plan and bothered us. We just couldn’t get things to fall offensively. She (Oganyan) did a great job preparing them to stop us offensively. We’re used to getting some more points off of our defensive intensity and turnovers.”

Buena (13-10), which last year became the first girls’ basketball program in state history to reach 1,000 wins, gave Burroughs difficulty at first and led 14-9 at the end of the first period.

But Burroughs went on a 10-0 run in the second quarter paced by three-pointers from Ariana Farias and Jillian Kukawski.

(Photo by © Ross A. Benson)

Buena fought back to tie things at 21 on a basket by its star player, Gianna Falccochia, who led her team with 11 points.

But a basket by Kayla Wrobel with 32 seconds left in the first half broke the tie and although Buena remained close throughout the second half, it would never be on par with Burroughs again.

Martin Grote had eight points and five blocks. Wrobel finished with seven points, Farias had four and Dyani Del Castillo and Kukawski each had three points.

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Burroughs Girls Basketball Puts a Stop to Arcadia

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The Burroughs High girls’ basketball team knew something had to change at halftime.

Luckily for the Indians, it did and in a big way.

(Photo by © Ross A Benson)

Burroughs put together a strong second-half effort on the defensive end in holding off visiting Arcadia 44-38 in a Pacific League contest Tuesday.

“In the second half we definitely played better defense,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “We talked about it at halftime, going back to man to man and defending and keeping people in front of you, contesting the shot and rebounding.”

Burroughs (14-8 overall, 5-3 in the league) jumped out to a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter led by a pair of three-pointers from Ariana Farias. But the Indians struggled in the second quarter, lost the lead and trailed 26-22 at halftime.

Burroughs’ comeback was helped by the play of freshman Faith Boulanger. She scored six of her team-high 12 points in the third quarter.

The Indians still trailed, 32-30, going into the fourth quarter when the defensive effort significantly changed.

(Photo by © Ross A Benson)

“We pretty much held them to one shot,” Oganyan said.

Burroughs went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter, getting superb efforts from Marin Grote, Nicole Rumfola, and Jill Kukawski.

Arcadia (8-10 overall, 2-6 in the league) didn’t score its first points of the fourth quarter until just 1:44 remained in the contest when Annie Tran threw a run in the jumper.

The Apaches cut the lead to 40-36 with 36 seconds to play.

But Burroughs was tough at the free-throw line as Rumfola and Kukawski each sank a pair of free throws to keep things from getting interesting.

Grote finished with nine points for Burroughs. Kukawski had seven points, Rumfola and Farias each had six points. Kayla Wrobel and A’sia Morales each had two points.

Burroughs Girls Basketball Falls to Hueneme in West Coast Holiday Festival

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With a young team that includes three freshmen starters, the Burroughs High girls’ basketball will certainly have some growing pains.

Wednesday night was one of those as the Indians fell 61-49 at home to Hueneme High in the second round of the West Coast Holiday Festival.

Hueneme (9-0) used its quickness and full-court press to frustrate Burroughs.

“We’ve faced all kinds of presses. It’s not the first time we’ve faced the full court,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan said. “I actually thought we did okay handling it. We’ve gotten better with that stuff.”

Burroughs (7-4) at times did indeed do well with the press. But Hueneme caught fire offensively in the second half and ran away with things in the end.

“They hit some shots. The two guards they have are pretty good guards,” Oganyan said. “They caught fire in the third quarter. We have to be able to play better defense and rebound the ball. We had opportunities where we let them get second chances.”

Burroughs led 21-19 at halftime. But Hueneme hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter alone and started the fourth quarter with yet another 3-pointer.

“It took them a little time to get warmed up. They usually don’t take this long to warm up, but I’m glad that they did warm up,” said Hueneme coach Katalina Martinez, who praised her team’s defensive effort. “Our pressure defense helps us stay in games like this when we’re playing against tall and strong teams.”

Hueneme began the second half on a 6-0 run and Burroughs never recovered.

Freshman Kayla Wrobel had seven of her team-high 15 points in the quarter for the Indians. She also had 10 rebounds. Ayumi DeHerrera had back-to-back baskets late in the quarter to make close the gap to 39-35. She finished with five points and six rebounds.

But Hueneme stormed right back by going on an 8-0 run led by a 3-pointer from Isabel Ayala to make it 47-35.

Burroughs fought back to make it 47-42 with 4:14 to play following a basket by Marin Grote.

But Hueneme once again bounced right back essentially put the game out of reach with just over a minute to play when Vanessa Smart hit a pair of free throws to make it 55-44.

Freshman Faith Boulanger had 10 points and eight rebounds for Burroughs.

Grote had seven points and nine rebounds. Nicole Rumfola had four points for Burroughs. Dyani Del Castillo, Camryn Lotka, Jill Kukawski and Jenny Galvan each had two points.

Burroughs Girls Basketball Shuts Down Burbank

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By Nareg Atteukenian

The Burroughs High girls’ basketball lost to rival Burbank on their home floor earlier this season.

Thursday night in the regular season finale, the Indians returned the favor, defeating the host Bulldogs 37-22.

“It was more of our defense and Burbank struggled in their first half shooting,” said Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan of the first half effort, which saw her team lead 23-11 at halftime.

Burroughs (18-11 overall, 8-4 in league) outplayed the Bulldogs and kept their guards from getting into a rhythm.

“The conversation at halftime was to make the passes we needed to make, take the shots we needed to take,” Burbank coach John Wells on the changes at the half. “We had some open looks tonight, (but) they didn’t fall.”

Burbank (14-15, 5-7) attempted to rally in the second half of the game but it was too little, too late.

“They came to shut down Ani and Osanna… and myself as a coach,” said Burbank’s coach John Wells about the game. “We needed to make some adjustments and I didn’t make them, and I let this team down tonight.”

Jocelyn Rieken led the Indians in scoring with 14 points. Kamryn Cardenaz had 11 points. Marin Grote had four points and Ariana Farias had three points. A’sia Morales and Caitlyn Pentland each had two points and Angelica Davtyan had one point.

From the Bulldogs, Osanna Tirityan led the way with seven points. Emma Kerr added six points. Sarah Sarquiz, Stephanie Grigorian, and Ani Sarkisyan each had three points.