Grote, Burroughs girls’ basketball stay in contention for title share
BURBANK — With the final seconds ticking down and any potential chance of the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team sharing the Pacific League championship hanging in the balance, the Indians relied on the league’s biggest insurance policy to preserve a 41-40 victory Tuesday over visiting Pasadena.
Marin Grote, a 6-foot-4 senior center signed to play volleyball at the University of Washington, blocked an attempted rebound putback by Pasadena freshman Sydney Brumfield just before time expired to help Burroughs win its seventh consecutive game and remain in league title contention.
“It’s all that volleyball training,” said Grote, who finished with 10 points, six rebounds and seven blocks. “I’ve always got my hands up to block the ball, so it’s definitely great to see that dual-sport cross-training paying off. It really felt great to know that the game was over and that we sealed the win.”
Burroughs (20-7, 10-3 in league) remained in a second-place tie with Glendale (18-9, 10-3), which held off Arcadia, 37-35. Crescenta Valley (20-6, 11-2), which defeated Burbank, 51-35, enters Thursday’s regular season finale against Arcadia (11-12, 5-8) with a chance to win the title outright.
Following a 39-28 loss Jan. 16 at Pasadena (19-9, 9-4), Burroughs had split its first six league games and had concerns about possibly not qualifying for the postseason.
But the Indians are unbeaten since, including a 50-36 victory Friday at Crescenta Valley, keeping them in championship contention.
“At 3-3, I didn’t know if we’d make the playoffs, since there are so many automatic qualifiers in our (Division 2-AA),” said Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan, who won 20 games for the fifth time in the past six seasons. “I just told them how proud I was that they stuck with it. They practice hard and they listen and they stayed the course. That’s kind of been our motto throughout the season. We just want to be that team that works really hard and stays together.”
Burroughs freshman Faith Boulanger added 16 points and seven rebounds, making the final two baskets for the Indians, who were held scoreless for the last 1:45.
Pasadena cut the deficit to 41-38 with 1:03 left following two free throws by Lailonie Sapp, then closed to within one point on a layup by Kameria Piggee with 26 seconds remaining.
Following two missed free throws by Burroughs freshman Kayla Wrobel with 8.9 seconds left, Pasadena’s Kamesha Moore attempted the potential winning shot from the top of the key with 4.1 seconds remaining, but it hit the front of the rim and was rebounded by Brumfield.
Grote, who has more than 300 blocked shots in her career, smothered the ball on Brumfield’s last-second shot to give Burroughs an opportunity to play at home Thursday for a potential share of the title against rival Burbank (10-17, 5-8).
“We’ve grown so much as a team and having three freshmen in the starting lineup, they’ve shown that they respond well to coaching and to situations like these,” Grote said. “To be able to beat Burbank one last time would be an amazing way to close out a great four years here at Burroughs.”
Moore had 13 points and Piggee added 11 points for Pasadena. Junior Ariana Farias contributed six points and three assists for Burroughs.
“We talk a lot about playing with confidence and it’s really been a collective effort for us to get to this point,” Oganyan said. “Our freshmen have all chipped in here and there, but when the game is on the line, you want Marin involved. You can’t replace her height and she makes plays that other people can’t make. Overall, she played really tough (Tuesday).”