Team effort puts Burbank into quarters

UPLAND — The last time Burbank High’s Bruce Breeden had a girls’ basketball team in the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals was in 2001 — when he coach at Crescenta Valley.

The Bulldogs received solid all-around performances from nearly every player on the squad, and rolled to a 62-40 victory over Upland High in a Division I-A second-round playoff game.

The Bulldogs will advance to play Temecula Valley in a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Burbank. Unseeded Temecula Valley defeated No. 5 Diamond Bar, 57-33, Wednesday.

Breeden was thrilled with the way his team came out and played.

“Wow,” said Breeden, who appeared as excited as his team. “I was nervous about the way we started the game, but we went on that run in the second quarter to close out the half. Then we came out in the third quarter just blazing.”

After a slow first quarter that saw the Bulldogs lead the Scots by just a point, the Burbank began to turn it around on both offense and defense. The Bulldogs outscored their opponents by 21 points the rest of the way.

The Bulldogs were led offensively by junior Aja Locke. Locke had a team-high 15 points and added five rebounds.

Senior co-caption Damarie Gonzalez had another solid game despite being cold from the field in the first half. She finished the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

“I wanted to get my team into the game,” Gonzalez said. “My shots weren’t falling, so I knew I had to get more assists and get the team more involved.”

And more involved they were. Junior Courtney Seidler had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior co-captain Sylvia Granados added eight points to go along with seven assists and four steals.

Granados, who Breeden said has always been a stellar defensive player, did another fine job limiting Scots’ point guard and co-captain, Shelby Yung.

“Sylvia’s been doing a great job,” Breeden said. “Her steals kept number [Yung] slowed down, and she ran our offense very well.”

The Bulldogs coach didn’t stop there when talking about his team.

“The girls played with a lot of confidence,” he said. “They ran the offense well, played good defense, rebounded. Man, it was sweet.”

The only player from Upland who could manage any kind of offense was senior co-captain, Ashley Carson. Carson led all scorers with a game-high 21 points.