Burroughs girls’ basketball’s Boulanger earns Pacific League top accolade
When it came to versatility, Burroughs High girls’ basketball coach Vicky Oganyan could turn to junior Faith Boulanger to adapt to any situation pitted against her.
In rugged Pacific League competition, Oganyan could count on Boulanger to help lift the team, which led to a wealth of success.
For her efforts, Boulanger was named league co-Player of the Year as voted on by the league’s coaches after she averaged 14.5 points. 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
Oganyan was bestowed with Pacific League Coach of the Year honors, as the Indians finished second in league.
“I’m just really honored,” Oganyan said. “Our league is really tough. There’s so many good coaches and to be considered by colleagues as coach of the year is just a good honor.
“I’m humbled by it. I feel like any of the coaches in our league is just as deserving of the award because they work just as hard and they do great things with their teams.”
A trio of Burroughs players garnered all-league selections alongside Boulanger, while a pair of Burbank athletes received all-league nods.
“I was excited to be able to get all of them on and for them to be able to get honored,” Oganyan said. “I thought they really improved as the year went on. To go 12-2 in that tough league, I thought it was a pretty good accomplishment, even though we came short on winning the league title.
“I’m just super excited for the players to get the recognition because they work so hard. Hopefully, we’ll continue it into next year knowing we have them back and we’ll try to get them better.”
Burroughs (25-8) enjoyed a lengthy season as the Indians reached the CIF Southern Section Division II-A semifinals and hosted its first-ever state playoff game in the CIF State Division III Southern California Regionals.
The fight for the league champion was tight between Burroughs and Pasadena and the title ultimately came down to the wire in the teams’ final meeting Jan. 31. The Bulldogs triumphed in a 49-40 win, on its way to the title, as junior Sydney Brumfield shared the top league honor with Boulanger.
“She’s really improved in all areas,” said Oganyan of Boulanger. “The great thing about Faith is that she’s willing to play any spot that we need her at for our team to be successful. She’s been forced to play the point guard position, we’ve asked her to shoot and we’ve put her underneath the post. Just being able to sacrifice and just do whatever we need her to do.
“In the last three years, I thought this year she was the most confident. I feel like when she’s on the court, everyone is a lot calmer.”
Burroughs junior Kayla Wrobel (9.5 points, 7.9 rebounds) and junior Dyani Del Castillo (8.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals) earned first-team recognition and sophomore Noors Fah (5.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 steals) received honorable mention.
Burbank, which finished 1`0-18, 3-11 to tie for sixth place in league, saw the senior duo of Bri Castro and Adel Bandarian get second-team and honorable mention recognition, respectively.
“It wasn’t the season that my seniors wanted, but I think we grew as a program,” Burbank coach Jett del Mundo said. “I’m very proud of what Bri and Adel brought to our program.
“Both are totally different players and both brought something totally different to the table. With those two ladies setting the tone, it shows that our program is going the right direction.”
Castro was the Bulldogs’ three-point expert and averaged 12 points a game. In the second game of the season, Castro knocked down nine threes, breaking the prior school record of eight.
“She earned that based on reputation,” del Mundo said. “She was a much better player this year. Last year, she was a spot-up shooter and she didn’t do anything else. This year, she was able to move around, get her shot, relocate and get another shot. People knew that she was the catalyst of our offense. She was a great three-point shooter.”
Bandarian led the team under in the post with nearly two blocks per game, giving the Bulldogs the rim protector they needed to feed Castro’s outside shots.