Glendale Community College women’s basketball torches Santa Monica
GLENDALE — Early hot shooting propelled the host Glendale Community College women’s basketball team to a quick start and eventual easy win, 82-42, over Santa Monica in cross-conference action Wednesday evening.
Vaqueros coach Joel Weiss is hopeful the victory over Western State Conference South Division foe Santa Monica will give Glendale momentum heading into the WSC North opener Saturday versus visiting Victor Valley.
Glendale (10-6) had lost three of its last four games prior to the win.
“You never want to get on a losing streak and you definitely want to respond,” said Weiss, whose team matched its season-high in points. “We haven’t played as well as we would have liked to and although I thought we played well against Ventura (62-56 loss on Saturday), you want to get back to winning in any circumstance, but before conference, too.”
Freshman guard Cheyenne Jankulovski led all players with 16 points and four assists, while former All-Area standout Sylvia Vartazarian of Glendale High added a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Savannah Fauria contributed 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Glendale, while Burroughs High product Paula Galicia chipped in nine points and four rebounds.
“I feel like this is the sort of game that will give us a boost going into conference,” Vartazarian said. “I feel like we’re brimming with confidence.”
If Glendale had been in a funk heading into Wednesday, it certainly didn’t appear so.
The Vaqueros hit 11 of 16 shots in the first quarter and connected on 11 of 17 looks in the second quarter for a scorching 67% shooting from the field in the first half in taking a commanding 54-28 lead.
Those percentages turned into points fast.
A 12-0 run behind five points and an assist from Vartazarian gave the Vaqueros a 14-3 advantage at the 6:13 mark in the first.
While Santa Monica (7-11) hacked its deficit down to seven, Glendale closed the first quarter with a 26-13 advantage on a runner from freshman forward Marlene Salazar with 20 seconds left.
The second quarter was no kinder to the Corsairs, who surrendered 10 of the period’s first 11 points to trail, 36-14, at the eight-minute mark.
Jankulovski was Glendale’s catalyst during that surge as the guard scored seven points and buried a three-pointer to put the Vaqueros ahead by 22.
The Corsairs showed fight and clawed to within 42-28 on a lay-up from Lisa Hall (team-high 11 points) off a steal and assist from Jessica Melamed with 2:44 left in the first half.
That push, however, was answered.
The Vaqueros closed out the first half with a 12-0 run capped on a three-pointer from Galicia off an assist from Deanna Gordillo to give Glendale a 26-point halftime lead.
“We just kept passing the ball around to find the open basket,” Jankulovski said. “The open player made the shot. It was kind of crazy. We were really unselfish.”
Glendale won the third quarter, 17-4, to go ahead, 71-32.
Melissa Garcia (Burroughs) initially broke the 40-point barrier on a three-pointer at the one-minute mark for a 71-30 lead.
Glendale won the fourth quarter, 11-10, and finished shooting at 50% for the game.
