Glendale girls’ basketball steps up defense in win over Burbank
Burbank’s Celine Shamalian brings the ball up and is stopped by the pursuing defense of Glendale’s Jillian Yanai.
Glendale High’s girls’ basketball team was able to accomplish a rare feat in its Pacific League game Wednesday against Burbank.
Coming up with a fine defensive effort, the Nitros were able to shut out the Bulldogs in the second quarter, an exceptional accomplishment against a team with its share of solid shooters.
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Trailing after one quarter, Glendale used that second-quarter performance to frustrate the Bulldogs and seize momentum in the game. The Nitros would never relinquish that momentum, as they weathered a fourth-quarter push by Burbank to earn a 38-32 victory at Glendale.
The win avenged a 54-40 league loss to the Bulldogs on Jan. 13.
The teams came into Wednesday’s matchup tied for third in league, one game behind second-place Crescenta Valley. The win gives Glendale (14-11, 8-3 in league) sole possession of third place with three games remaining in league. Burbank (17-8, 7-4) drops into the fourth spot.
Glendale received a fine effort from defensive stopper Cynthia Zamora, who had 10 rebounds. Leading the Nitros in scoring was Merina Latu, who had 15 points, while Sylvia Vartazarian contributed nine points and 10 rebounds.
“We have worked very hard in the last week on our defense,” said Glendale Coach Tadeh Mardirosian, whose team had seven steals, three coming from Jillian Yanai (seven points). “We knew that Burbank can shoot the lights out at any given point, so we knew we had to play very good defense against them.
“I just thought that we just worked so hard defensively. The girls really bought into a team defensive effort. They are a young team and they are realizing that team defense will move you forward and help on the offensive end.”
Burbank was plagued with ball-handling problems throughout most of the game, ending with 14 turnovers. The team’s shooters also had problems finding their rhythm.
“We really started out flat and I think because we beat them before we came out and thought it was ours,” said Burbank freshman Osanna Tirityan, who led the Bulldogs with 13 points and 12 rebounds. “Then we just decided ‘Hey, we’re just going to play mediocre’ until the fourth quarter.
“I think that we all just weren’t clicking together and we weren’t playing as a team. We just all wanted to do our own things.”
Christina Mkrtchyan added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Burbank began the game well, jumping out to a 9-2 lead. But the Nitros went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 9 with 1:26 left. The Bulldogs were able to go into the first break with a 12-9 advantage after Tirityan sank a three-pointer with 58 seconds to go.
The second quarter was all Glendale, as it outscored its opponent, 11-0. Burbank committed five turnovers in the stanza and missed all 11 of its shots from the floor, along with two free throws.
After leading at the half, 20-12, the Nitros increased their advantage to 30-21 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs finally started playing better. When Mkrtchyan converted two free throws with 2:05 remaining, the Nitros’ lead had dwindled to three, 32-29. On Burbank’s next possession, a three-pointer to tie fell short.
A jumper by Yanai with 1:02 remaining gave Glendale come breathing room at 34-29 and the Nitros were then able to knock down some late free throws to seal the win.
“We just wanted to play better than the last time we played them and we wanted to play harder,” Latu said. “And I think we did that.”
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports
