Yanai, Glendale girls’ basketball too much for Hoover
Glendale’s Claire Yanai looks for a shot with Hoover’s Lilit Aghanes defending during the Nitros’ win on Friday night.
- Share via
Glendale — Playing in front of a large crowd Friday night, Claire Yanai flourished at both ends of the court.
The Glendale High girls’ basketball junior guard grabbed offensive and defensive rebounds, made deft passes and provided a nice scoring touch to help the host Nitros pick up a 61-51 Pacific League victory against cross-town rival Hoover.
Yanai finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and six steals in leading the Nitros (10-11, 4-3 in league) past the Tornadoes (3-15, 1-6) in the first of two head-to-head match ups.
“It can be a little nerve-wracking playing in front of a lot of people, but I thought there were good vibes throughout the game,” said Yanai, whose team ended a three-game losing streak. “It’s a lot of people being able to pitch in and things went well.
“I just tried to stay ready and be mentally prepared. I got a lot of good passes from my teammates and I gave them good passes.”
Yanai had four offensive rebounds, leading to seven Glendale points. She finished with six second-half points to help Glendale extended its winning streak to 16 against Hoover.
First-year Glendale Coach Tadeh Mardirosian said Yanai provided the Nitros with a much-needed spark.
“We don’t have many seniors, so we need to turn to Claire for leadership,” said Mardirosian, who received 19 points and eight rebounds from Sylvia Vartazarian and 11 points from Marina Latu. “She’s very poised and her teammates follow her.
“She’s got that good work ethic on both ends of the court and she’s got a supporting cast that can help her out. She had a very good game. I credit Hoover for playing hard, especially in the second half when they tried to come back.”
The Nitros began the second quarter on a 10-3 run to build a 23-14 advantage.
Hoover’s Xitlali Serrano closed out the first-half scoring with a bucket to bring the Tornadoes to within 29-16.
Yanai made a three-pointer to extend Glendale’s lead to 37-18 with 6:10 to go in the third quarter.
Hoover received a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds from senior guard Mikaela Mauricio, including 12 in the second half.
The Tornadoes scored 25 points in the fourth quarter before falling short in their comeback bid.
“I thought we stayed with it and made a good run in the second half,” said Hoover Coach Stan Watson, who got 13 points from Nanor Sevajian and nine from Leiana Bedroosian. “We didn’t do enough during the whole game to take the lead and win.
“Mikaela had a great game, but Glendale made its shots. We’ll look to have a better showing in the second half of league.”
Mauricio scored the first seven points for Hoover and had nine of the Tornadoes’ 11 first-quarter points.
Glendale and Hoover will meet again at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Hoover.
--
Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
