Providence girls’ basketball opens season, tournament on winning note
BURBANK — Expectations are high once again for the Providence High girls’ basketball team entering a new season.
The Pioneers have been a juggernaut the past seven seasons in the Liberty League, having won five league championships outright and sharing two with Holy Martyrs.
In hopes of extending its league dominance, Providence is using the 28th annual Paul Sutton Tip-Off Classic as a springboard to see where its experienced team might stand.
Providence began its season on the right note Monday, as Christa Kurkjian contributed 12 points and five rebounds in a 37-21 pool-play win against Mayfield.
“We have seven seniors now and most of them played at the junior-varsity level last year,” said Providence Coach Andrew Benzce, whose team split the league title with Holy Martyrs and reached the CIF Southern Section Division V-AA quarterfinals last season. “So we are going to have to count on people like Christa, who played varsity last season, to lead the way and try to extend the league tradition.
“It’s the same expectations for our team and that’s winning league and CIF. It’s good to start off with a win, but we’ve got to get a lot better.”
Kurkjian finished with nine first-quarter points to help Providence build a 12-2 lead. The Pioneers never trailed against the Cubs.
Kurkjian, a guard, made a three-pointer to give the Pioneers a 9-0 lead with 4:03 left in the first quarter. On Providence’s next possession, Kurkjian grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup to make it 11-0.
“It’s refreshing to finally be able to get out there and play,” said Kurkjian, who also had three steals. “You get a chance to see what your strengths are and what you need to work on.
“I got a lot of good passes and [teammate] Ariel [Gordillo] penetrated with the ball and made some very good passes. We’d love to win the tournament, but we know it’s going to be a challenge. We know what we have to do and that’s continuing to work hard.”
Providence held an 18-4 halftime lead before Kurkjian made another three-pointer with 2:46 to go in the third quarter to extend the lead to 30-7.
Providence received six points, five steals and five rebounds from Gordillo, six points and four rebounds from Francesca Maravilla and six points from Giselle Camonayan.
Providence thrived on defense with 14 steals.
“I thought we played with a lot of effort at both ends,” Benzce said. “We just need to be a little sharper.
“We had some people coming back from the volleyball playoffs and others who were in a school play, so we’ve had very few practices together. We’ll get better.”
Mayfield got a team-high eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks from Jacqueline Baggott.
Providence will participate in another pool-play contest at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Ramona Convent.
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports