Burroughs girls’ basketball comeback falls short

VALENCIA — Two games into the season and the Burroughs High girls’ basketball team is still trying to work out the kinks.

Some of those kinks were evident throughout the first three quarters Wednesday in a pool-play game of the Valencia High Hive Classic against Agoura. The Indians had trouble with their transition defense and didn’t shoot the ball well, allowing the Chargers to take a double-digit lead.

However, Burroughs battled back in the fourth quarter and actually had a lead. But the Indians couldn’t sustain the comeback, as they wavered late in the final stanza to absorb a 56-50 loss at Valencia High against Agoura.

The loss puts Burroughs at 1-1 in pool play after it defeated Hart, 58-53, in an opening-round game Tuesday. The Indians conclude pool play with a 4 p.m. game Friday against Granada Hills Kennedy.

After fighting through a first half in which they shot just seven of 32, the Indians looked as if they had things together after taking a 46-42 advantage with less than three minutes remaining in the game when Sidney Ortega scored on a jumper.

“I thought at that point we were in pretty good shape and we were playing a lot better,” Burroughs Coach Vicky Oganyan said. “But when that Agoura player hit a big three, that got them right back in the game.”

That three-pointer was delivered by Shavanna Borenskin, which cut the Burroughs lead to a single point.

The Chargers (2-0) were able to surge out in front, 47-46, moments later on a layup by Kim Jacobs with 2:03 remaining.

Following a missed shot by the Indians, Agoura’s Noam Leead converted two free throws to increase the advantage to 49-46. Another Burroughs missed shot followed, as the Indians were then forced to foul.

Bigi Olelewe made two subsequent free throws to stake the Chargers to a 50-46 lead with 1:01 left.

“It’s a big positive that were we able to battle back after being behind,” said Oganyan, whose squad trailed by 12, 38-26, late in the third quarter. “It shows that we can battle back and we just didn’t roll over and die.

“But our turnovers and our lack of transition defense really hurt us. We gave up way to many easy layups.”

The Indians did receive a productive game from senior Aysia Shellmire, who scored 23 points to go along with nine rebounds and six blocks. Unfortunately, she was the only Indian in double figures in scoring. Teammate Davina Del Castillo added 10 rebounds and Jakarra Waddell had eight boards.

The Chargers had two players in double figures in scoring, Leead (18) and Jacobs (13). In the fourth quarter, Leead scored nine points and was seven of eight from the free-throw line.

Burroughs enjoyed a 12-8 lead after one quarter, but was outscored, 11-5, in the second, as Agoura went into halftime with a 19-17 lead. In the second, the Indians committed seven turnovers and converted just two of 13 shots from the floor.

The Chargers increased the advantage to 38-33 after three quarters.

For the game, Burroughs converted 22 of 60 shots.

“We missed a ton of shots around the basket and we have to get better at that,” Oganyan said. “We just can’t miss that many shots and hope to win games.”