Burbank girls’ basketball falls in overtime to state finalist

BURBANK — With John Wells having climbed the ladder to become head coach of the Burbank High girls’ basketball team, things have begun to round into shape.

Last season, Wells served as associate coach under Bruce Breeden, who resigned in the spring to focus on being the school co-athletic director.

The upshot for Wells is that he’s familiar with the Burbank roster.

“Since we started in the spring, we’ve played about 15-20 games,” Wells said after Burbank suffered a 31-25 overtime loss against Village Christian on Wednesday in a Burbank Summer League contest. “We have nine seniors, so I know what they bring to the team.

“The biggest thing right now is them being able to learn how to run the motion offense. It’s going to take a while, but they have the freedom to make their own decisions along with learning how to read defenses. We’ll get there and we’ll look to continue improving with our dribbling and passing.”

Burbank, which finished fourth in the Pacific League before losing to Garden Grove in a CIF Southern Section Division II-AA first-round playoff road game last season, held a 22-14 lead with 8:46 left in the second half on a layup by Ani Sarkisyan.

Village Christian, which reached the Division V-AA semifinals and made an appearance in the CIF State Division V championship contest in Sacramento last season, closed out the half on a 11-3 run to send the game into a two-minute overtime session.

Village Christian scored all six points in overtime against fatigued Burbank.

“We just got a little stagnant and hit the wall,” Wells said. “They are not an easy team to play against and we held our own most of the way.

It’s good when you can go out there and play some of the top teams from around the area. It will get you ready for November. I’d rather play like we did and lose a close game to a team like Village Christian then blow out a team by 30 points. It gives you a much better idea of where you stand and what you need to continue working on.”

Burbank received a team-high eight points from Emma Kerr and seven from Sarkisyan.

A layup by Kerr gave Burbank a 6-0 lead with 11:07 remaining in the first half. Kerr finished with six first-half points for the Bulldogs, who held a 14-6 halftime lead.

Sarkisyan made a three-pointer from the right side to extend Burbank’s lead to 13-6 with 37 seconds to go in the first half, which saw Village Christian miss its first 11 shots

Kerr, a senior forward, said the Bulldogs are heading in the right direction.

“I think we’ve been doing pretty well throughout the summer,” Kerr said. “The biggest difference is the coaching styles. They are both great coaches.

“We’re still adjusting, so there’s that learning curve. You can really pick up on different things throughout the summer. It gives us an idea of where we want to be [by the end of the summer].”