Hartounian leads the way

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan

BURBANK -- Anika Hartounian is the franchise -- according to her Coach

Errol Garnett -- of the Glendale High girls’ basketball team.

As the leader of the Nitros’ team, Hartounian has established herself

as one of the top players in the area.

And as the Nitros attempt to advance to the CIF Southern Section

Division IAAA playoffs for the second straight season, the senior will

once again be the player who will carry her team.

Hartounian had 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three

steals to lead Glendale to an end-to-end 50-43 victory against Monroe on

Thursday in a pool-play game in the 20th annual Burroughs/Magnolia Park

Optimist Club 2001 Holiday Tournament at Burroughs High.

She was cleared to play Thursday after she sustained a concussion

during a Dec. 13th game against Burroughs.

“Anika is franchise,” Garnett said. “If we had a salary cap, she would

be getting Alex Rodriguez money.

“It’s her show. She steps up and she does what the best player on a

team is supposed to do.”

Hartounian used her quickness to get to the basket. Against a weak

perimeter defense, she made all 10 of her baskets in the paint.

“They kept on driving in on us and my girls didn’t step up,” said

Monroe Coach Ron Harris, who was without starters Latoya Jackson and

Takiyyah Gray.

“We played so poorly and we didn’t play help defense. They spread the

floor on us, which is something we hadn’t seen yet, and they would

drive.”

Desiree Norihiro led Monroe (1-6) with 20 points, including 10 in the

fourth quarter.

Hartounian has always made the plays when she’s had to, so when the

Vikings (1-6) cut a 15-point lead to just three with six minutes

remaining, Garnett wasn’t fazed.

Garnett knew his team would rebound and go on a spurt of its own.

Hartounian scored eight of her team’s final 13 points. She also had four

of Glendale’s 12 rebounds in the fourth.

“When my team is counting on me, I can’t let them down,” Hartounian

said.

“We’re kind of used to close games. That’s why we stayed calm. We have

a tendency to hang with teams. We either let go or spurt up. Everybody

was in the game.”

Said Garnett: “In basketball, it’s a series of waves. We score a bunch

and they score a bunch. I knew we took the best wave they had. I put in

my starters and they brought the tidal wave.”

Garnett had waited a long time for his starting center, Arpi

Babakhanian, to get out of her season-long slump.

Babakhanian, who was benched for most of Glendale’s contest against

Birmingham on Wednesday, responded by scoring 10 points and grabbing 11

rebounds, six in the fourth.

“She never quit,” said Garnett, whose team won its second consecutive

game after starting the season 1-5.

“It takes time for a team to jell. I think we jelled late and

hopefully we’re going to finish strong.”

North Hollywood 66, Hoover 50: North Hollywood built on its five point

halftime lead to run away with a pool-play game in the Burroughs/Magnolia

Park Optimist Club 2001 Holiday Tournament game Thursday at Burroughs

High.

Kaipresha Price led Huskies with 19 points. Teammate Marsha Clever had

13 points and Wyndee Haley had 12.

Arsineh Eskandari paded her area-leading, points-per-game average,

scoring a game-high 34 points. Ani Arutyunyan had 10 points for Hoover

(1-6).

BOX SCORE

Glendale*18*9*12*11*--*50 Monroe*6*12*12*13*--*43

GLENDALE -- Hartounian 20, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, Ar.

Babakhanian 10 and 11 rebounds, Avanessians 8, An. Babakhanian 7,

Baghdasarian 2, Shahverdian 2, Chividjian 1.

* Three-pointers: Avanessians 2.

MONROE -- Norihiro 20 7 rebounds, Jones 12, Cravens 6 and 11 rebounds,

Smith 5, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

* Three-pointers: Norihiro 4, Jones 2.