Quick start paves way for Glendale college basketball rout
GLENDALE — A torrid pace was set early and the Glendale Community College women’s basketball team never let up.
The Vaqueros faced Copper Mountain from Joshua Tree in San Bernardino on Wednesday in their first game of a two-day mini tournament at Glendale college.
Glendale jumped in front of the Fighting Cacti in the opening minutes and the final result was never in question thereafter as the Vaqueros breezed to an 82-29 victory.
The win improved the Vaqueros to 8-3, as the team will take on Riverside Community College on Thursday at home in the tournament.
“We only have one player, [Burroughs High graduate] Brooke Radcliff, who had any previous college experience playing for us last year,” Vaqueros coach Joel Weiss said. “We have a lot of new faces this year.
“But we tried to go out and recruit really high character kids. This is just a really good group and they all work extremely hard. Many of them had a lot of success in high school, they have a winning makeup, but it’s now just a question of can they grow as players and get up to the speed of the college game versus high school. But they’re doing a really good job so far.”
Weiss was able to go deep in his bench against Copper Mountain (0-7), with every Vaquero seeing time in the game. The Glendale defense stepped up, limiting the Fighting Cacti to single digits scoring in all four quarters.
Glendale was led by freshman Cheyenne Jankulovski, who poured in a game-high 18 points. Freshman Savannah Fauria contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds and a pair of area freshmen, Glendale High product Sylvia Vartazarian and Burroughs graduate Melissa Garcia (four three-pointers), added 14 points each.
Jankulovski and Vartazarian scored six points each in the first quarter to stake the Vaqueros to a 21-8 lead at the first break.
“We work hard in practice and how we play in practice is how we play in games,” Jankulovski said. “Our practices have been very competitive lately and I’m glad we were able to bring that to the court.
“Everybody has their specific role and we all do what we’re supposed to do. And in today’s game we all just did what we had to do.”
The Vaqueros again limited Copper Mountain to just eight points in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 49-16 advantage.
Glendale continued to roll in the third quarter, outscoring the Fighting Cacti, 20-7, to lead 69-23 heading into the fourth.
“When a game gets out of hand like that, it’s just about execution on our part,” Weiss said. “We are still playing the game, but it becomes a matter of executing some things and trying to become a better team.”
Glendale surrendered just six points in the final quarter.
Freshman Caitlyn Pentland from Burroughs contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Vaqueros.
Twitter: @jefftsports
