Undefeated La Cañada girls’ basketball advances past Glendale
In the inaugural CIF Southern Section girls’ basketball poll, undefeated La Cañada High, led by first-year coach Sarah Beattie, debuted at No. 4. in Division III-A. The Spartans looked to keep the hot start going against Glendale in a semifinal match-up as part of the 21st annual Lady Knights Christmas Classic at Arroyo High School.
On Friday evening, La Cañada clamped down on defense from the start on the way to a convincing 63-43 victory over the Nitros to stay unbeaten and earn a berth in the championship of the Arroyo tournament Saturday night at 6.
PHOTOS: La Cañada High defeats Glendale, 63-43
“Defensively, we were fired up in the first half. We were ready to go. We had our game plan set,” said Beattie, a 2003 La Cañada graduate. “I felt they really executed well. I think we got maybe a little tired in the second half and the defense wasn’t as sharp as it was before, but first half we really attacked it like we planned.”
The Spartans (8-0), who won their two games in pool play by an average margin of 42.5 points, scored the first 10 points of the game against Glendale (4-4). The Nitros, after nearly five minutes of play, then scored the next four points to get on the scoreboard before La Cañada scored the final six. Spartan Sarah Kurdoghlian scored the final points of the quarter with a scoop shot for the last of her eight points in the opening stanza, allowing the Spartans to take a commanding 16-4 advantage into the second quarter.
La Cañada then scored the first seven points of the second quarter, started by a three-pointer from Sarah Kurdoghlian. However, the senior, who had a team-high four steals, would not score again.
Glendale, which had five blocks in the second period, then came to life with a nine-point run of its own, including back-to-back steals leading to lay-ups at the other end by Nitro Jillian Yanai. However, it would be La Cañada that would take the quarter, 19-12, to carry a 19-point cushion into the break.
The final three points of the second came from the line courtesy of Spartan Kristina Kurdoghlian. With 15 seconds left, the junior hit her first free throw before missing the second, but Kurdoghlian, despite being the only Spartan on that end of the court, got the rebound and was fouled again. This time she drained both and La Cañada took a 35-16 advantage into the second half.
“I saw them kind of slack off and I was like what an opportunity to go and go up again and I got fouled,” Kristina Kurdoghlian said. “It was like a one-in-a million chance that I got [that rebound].”
The Spartans had four players score in double digits, including Sarah Kurdoghlian’s 11 points, and were led by Alexi Nazarian, who had 14. The front-court tandem of Amber Graves and Zoe Williams each had 12. Williams also grabbed six rebounds, with Graves collecting five boards. Kristina Kurdoghlian was the Spartans’ leading rebounder, with seven to go along with her eight points, three assists and two steals.
Glendale, which beat Monrovia and Duarte in pool play to reach the semifinals, had Sylvia Vartazarian lead the team in the scoring department with a game-high 17 points, 13 coming in the second half.
Yanai had a strong all-around effort, scoring nine points, getting a team-high seven rebounds and adding four each of steals and assists. Nitro junior Marina Latu scored eight points.
“That is a big team and they are very fundamentally sound,” Glendale first-year Coach Tadeh Mardirosian said of the Spartans. “I give it up to them. They executed very well and capitalized on our mistakes. We had 16 turnovers and I think they scored off them about 50 percent of the time, so I think that is where the turnaround was.”
Up next on Saturday for La Cañada, which already won the Crescenta Valley Tournament earlier this season, will be a date in the championship game of the Arroyo tournament against the winner of the other semifinal, between Sonora and Oak Hills. The loser of that game will face Glendale for third place at 4:30 p.m.
“I’ve been trying to take it one game at a time,” Beattie said. “That is what I’ve been trying to do [with the team].”