Burroughs girls’ basketball routs Glendale to claim outright league title

Last time Burroughs High’s girls’ basketball team took the floor, the Indians secured a share of the Pacific League crown.

Hosting Glendale in the second-to-last game of the regular season, the Indians were one step away from laying claim outright to their fourth straight league title.

On Tuesday, Burroughs took that step, putting together a stellar performance on both sides of the floor to blow out visiting Glendale, 67-34, although coach Vicky Oganyan and the Indians, having been there before, did not spend any energy celebrating afterward.

“I think right now we are just focused on Burbank,” said Oganyan, whose team will host Burbank on Thursday. “But after Burbank, we can look back and kind of reflect on it. But right now, none of us really are thinking about the league title. We are taking it one game at a time.”

The win over the Nitros was the 41th straight in Pacific League play for Burroughs (20-7, 13-0), which is ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1-A poll.

“That is a team that is 13-0 now for a reason. They execute well and their defense was phenomenal today,” first-year Glendale Coach Tadeh Mardirosian said. “Coach Vicky does a good job of running those sets and the girls really work hard for her.”

The Indians spread the ball around against Glendale (14-13, 8-5 in league), which is tied for third in league with Burbank, and stoked their lead through the first three and a half quarters. This resulted in four of the five starters scoring in double digits, led by Kamryn Cardenaz with 16 points. The junior also had five rebounds and a team-high five assists.

“The win today, we just had to go in and put it away and get ready for our next game,” Cardenaz said.

Indian Abbey Ibarra contributed 14 points along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Junior Haley Wilson had 10 points and five rebounds. Senior Brooke Radcliff had six in the first quarter on the way to nine points overall. Sophomore Marin Grote had a game-high nine rebounds.

“We played well defensively. We stuck to the game plan,” Oganyan said. “And then our offense was on today. I guess we clicked on both cylinders.”

Burroughs came out in the first quarter playing unselfish disciplined offense. The Indians consistently attacked the paint before dishing to a teammate cutting to the hoop for a lay-up. Indian Jordan Meltzer, who would finish with 12 points, made a three-pointer at the horn for her first points and the largest lead of the opening period at 22-10.

“We started off well,” Oganyan said. “We ran our sets and got points off our sets. When they started taking that away we went back to our motion and we scored off of that.”

The hosts scored the first six points of the second quarter while holding Glendale scoreless until halfway through the period. Both Meltzer and Cardenaz had six apiece in the second, after which the Indians had a 25-point cushion.

Burroughs opened the second half on a 10-4 run. Ibarra made her fourth and final three-pointer of the game for the final points of the quarter, after which Burroughs led. 59-24.

Burroughs started the final quarter with an 8-2 scoring burst, with Cardenaz accounting for six of those points. When Melissa Garcia finished the run by way of a behind-the-back dribble to stay inbounds before driving to the hoop for a lay-in, the margin jumped to 41 points, which prompted a running clock for the rest of the contest. Glendale went on to score the final eight points of the game.

“At one point I looked up and thought, ‘Why is the clock running?’” Oganyan said. “I didn’t really realize the situation.”

Glendale was led in scoring by Jillian Yanai with 11 points, including seven in the first quarter. Juniors Sylvia Vartazarian and Merina Latu had nine and eight points, respectively.

“We tried to contain, but it kind of got out of our hands today,” Mardirosian said.