Energized Burroughs girls’ basketball takes down Glendale

BURBANK — When Burroughs High’s and Glendale’s girls’ basketball teams met in Friday night’s Pacific League bout, it was a game that featured two squads dealing with different realities.

For the Indians, they’re positioning themselves to repeat as league champs. For the Nitros, they’re trying to get the season in gear before it’s too late.

Burroughs kept its hopes in line, in turn further disrupting the Nitros’, as the Indians prevailed, 67-30, at home.

The Indians, who have won three straight and five of their last six, improved to 10-6 overall and 2-0 in league. The Nitros fell to 6-10 and 0-2, having dropped their last three tilts.

“All we have to do is play with energy and that’s where our game starts,” said Burroughs senior guard Sidney Ortega.

As simple as it sounds, energy was the main ingredient to the Indians’ blowout victory: Energy on defense, energy on offense, energy in the passing game, energy on the boards.

“Our defensive energy, our aggressiveness, making it a full-court game instead of a half-court game,” Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan replied when asked the key to the win.

A look at two plays by Ortega in the first half demonstrated the Indians’ focus on playing from the first whistle to the final buzzer. Ortega scored a layup five seconds after the opening tip and closed out the first half with a bucket as time ran out.

Ortega led all scorers with 19 points.

“I thought she had her best game of the season,” Oganyan said. “She had a lot of energy, hitting threes, getting layups, rebounding. She played really well.”

Burroughs never trailed, going up, 16-7, after the first quarter. The Indians held a 20-11 advantage midway through the second period before closing out the first half on a 16-6 run for a 36-17 lead heading into the break.

It was all Burroughs in the second half. The Nitros managed only six points in the third, as the Indians increased their lead to 53-23. The fourth was more of the same as Burroughs won going away.

The Indians tallied 32 steals.

“They were committed to their traps,” Glendale Coach Tania Adary said. “They were playing pretty aggressively. We just were not able to fight back.”

Adary added that she was impressed with how her bench played and hopes the team can get headed in the right direction as league progresses.

Davina Del Castillo had 10 rebounds, nine steals and seven points for Burroughs, while teammate Brooke Radcliff added 12 points.

For Glendale, Claire Yanai scored seven points and Kristina Sahakian grabbed eight rebounds.