Tribe Gets By CV
Shellmire Pours in 20 of Teams 33 points to spark girls’ basketball upset
Every good league race has a little controversy mixed in. Monday’s Pacific League contest at Burroughs had a little for both Crescenta Valley and Burroughs highs.
Burroughs head coach Vicky Oganyan benched several key players following a loss to Pasadena last week, including center Aysia Shellmire who had opened league play a week ago with a 45-point effort against Hoover.
The players were inserted into the rotation to start the second quarter, and Shellmire clearly heard her coach’s message loud and clear. The junior responded with 20 points in a 33-32 victory for the Indians against CV who fell to 9-6 overall and a surprising 1-2 in league with the loss.
The Falcons were enraged that their star player, Ella Stepanian, sat most of the fourth quarter because of a ruling by the officiating crew. With just under six minutes remaining in the contest the sophomore sensation bounced her head of the gym floor and was removed from the game with a head injury.
When she attempted to return a few minutes later the officials informed Falcons’ coach, Jason Perez, stating she had to be medically cleared by a doctor before returning to the action.
Without the focal point of their offense the Falcons generated few scoring opportunities the rest of the way and the Indians were able to rally for a victory.
CV led by three with Stepanian in the contest, and was outscored by four the final 5:41 without her. The Falcons led by as many as nine points in the first half, largely because the Indians were horrendous shooting – just 12 of 50 or 24% in the game.
In other girls’ basketball action, Burbank dropped a tough Pacific League match to the Mustangs (12-3, 3-0), January 9 at Burbank. Aja Locke scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Bulldogs (9-8, 2-2).
Emoni Jackson scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Muir, while teammate Jerrica Daniels sank two free throws with just seconds left to seal the win for the Mustangs.
BOYS BASKETBALL SPORTS SHORTS
Muir 52, Burbank 50: The Bulldogs dropped their third straight to open Pacific League play, this time in heartbreaking fashion against Muir. Burbank had a three-point lead with 1:26 left in the game, but some poor shot selections and fouls down the stretch paved the way for a Muir rally at Burbank High.
Making matters worse for Burbank was an error in the home team score book that shorted the team two points heading into the halftime – giving Burbank 33 instead of 35 – which was unfortunately the difference in the contest.
Michael Cockrell scored 13 points including three 3-pointers and Andre Frasier scored five points, grabbed eight rebounds and swatted seven blocks to lead the Mustangs. Muir is now 14-1 overall and 3-0 in Pacific League play.
Crescenta Valley 77, Burroughs 40: Crescenta Valley continues to be the most talked about team in the boys’ Pacific League race. Burroughs coach Adam Hochberg simply said, “they were awesome in every facet of the game” after the Indians were nearly doubled-up by the Falcons on January 9.
The lone bright spot for Burroughs was the return of Jorge Flores-Pere who played for the first time this season. Still getting back into game shape, the Tribe’s leading scorer from a year ago poured in 19 points.
Burroughs falls to 6-9 overall and 0-3 in league play.
