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Burroughs girls’ basketball’s second-half rally falls short in CIF semifinal loss to No. 1 San Clemente

Burroughs' head coach Vicky Oganyan and the Burroughs High girls' basketball team took on San Clemente in a CIF semifinal playoff game Saturday.
(File Photo)
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SAN CLEMENTE — Facing a double-digit deficit at halftime in its CIF Southern Section Division II-A girls’ basketball semifinal, Burroughs High came out of the break looking to turn the tide against top-seeded San Clemente High.

After committing four turnovers in the second quarter that resulted in eight points for their opponent, the Indians cranked up their defense in the third to fuel a scoring run in an effort to shrink the Tritons’ lead.

Burroughs’ third-quarter defensive effort brought the lead down to five points, but host San Clemente hung on late in the fourth to win, 41-29, Saturday.

“I am proud of the second-half effort,” said Burroughs coach Vicky Oganyan, who led the Indians to their third semifinal and first since 2016. “I don’t think I substituted one time in that half. I think all five were on the court the entire time and they were just everywhere. I’m pretty proud of that.”

Burroughs (25-7), the Pacific League runner-up and No. 4 seed, faced a 25-10 deficit to start the second half.

Indians junior Dyani Del Castillo kicked off the third quarter with a steal and score. Junior Faith Boulanger then followed with another basket off a Tritons’ turnover.

A put-back basket from San Clemente junior Jessie Blaine would be the last for the Tritons for nearly six minutes, as Burroughs stole the ball four times on its way to a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 27-22 with 1:52 left.

A basket from Tritons sophomore Riley Brown made it a 29-22 lead for San Clemente (27-3; South Coast League champion) with 25.8 left in the third.

With a seven-point lead to start the fourth quarter, San Clemente sophomore Jolie Johnson stepped up with a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Boulanger brought the Indians deficit back down to seven with a three-pointer with 6:33 left before a basket from Noor Fahs made it 34-29, forcing the Tritons to call timeout.

“In the second half, we started doing our trap, which I think, really helped us a lot because that made them rush and feel more panicked,” Boulanger said. “We also noticed they were also in man-defense instead of a zone, since, in the first half, they were running zone for most of the time. So changing our offense and defense to go with whatever they were throwing at us just helped us a lot.”

Burroughs would not score for the remainder of the game, and two layups from Johnson and a dagger three-pointer from junior Kyra Stewart capped a 7-0 run for the hosts to end the contest.

Boulanger finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists and Del Castillo added nine points.

Blaine scored a game-high 14 points to go along with 12 rebounds and five steals, while Johnson finished with 11 points.

It was a rough start of the game for Burroughs. San Clemente scored the first two baskets before the Indians got on board at 5:09 of the first.

Burroughs then stumbled into a scoring drought and went cold for nearly three minutes.

After back-to-back lay-ins from Blaine to give the hosts an 8-2 lead, Boulanger ended the drought at 2:13 in the first after the team made just one shot in eight attempts.

The Tritons built on their lead with a three-pointer from Steward with 1:55 left in the first on their way to a 13-6 lead at the break.

“We just had to play a little better offensively,” Oganyan said. “I think, defensively we did a good job. [San Clemente] has been scoring in the 80s, and I knew we had to keep the score low if we had a chance.

“Defensively, we did that, but offensively, we were too rushed to get into our stuff and we missed our open chances.”

Though Del Castillo knocked down a three-pointer to put the Indians within 15-9 at the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, the Tritons started to pull away in the frame as the hosts converted four Indians turnovers into eight points.

Despite continued poor shooting from San Clemente, which made 10 of 32 baskets from the field in the first half, the Tritons benefited from the takeaways for a 15-point advantage at halftime.

“They’re tough defensively and we knew that going in,” San Clemente coach Kerri Husbands said. “It was a defensive matchup. They made a great adjustment [at halftime] and really started pressuring. They’re a really good team, so I’m happy to survive.”

San Clemente will face seventh-seed Bishop Amat in the Division II-A championship game at a time, date and location to be determined.

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