Glendale High girls’ basketball runs down Simi Valley

BURBANK — It had been a while since the Glendale High girls’ basketball team had found itself in a situation similar to the circumstances the Nitros were involved in Tuesday afternoon.

In fact, no one at Burroughs High was quite sure the last time Glendale High so thoroughly dominated an opponent the way the Nitros did, as they took apart a severely short-handed Simi Valley squad, 43-5, at the Burroughs High basketball summer league.

“I honestly didn’t expect this and I don’t remember the last time we’ve had a game like this,” Glendale High Coach Tania Adary said. “This was one of those games where you were able to work on everything and do just about anything.”

Simi Valley entered Tuesday’s contest missing more than half its roster due to summer vacations and was forced to play iron man basketball, without one player substituting through two 20-minute halves.

For a while at least, the Pioneers seemed up to task, taking a 2-0 lead at the 16:02 mark after a running layup from Jessie Sulka, who was fouled on the play, but failed to make her subsequent free throw.

Yet, that free throw marked two important points in the game.

Before the attempt, the Nitros made their first of many substitutions that left the squad considerably fresher the rest of the way.

Also, the 16:02 point marked the final time the Pioneers scored in the opening half.

Glendale countered with a free throw from Kristian Sahakian with 14:54 left in the first half before an offensive rebound from Claire Yanai led to a Nitros layup from Christine Garcia with 14:12 remaining that put Glendale up, 3-2.

Unbeknownst to the Nitros, a little more than two minutes later, a pair of free throws from Garcia served as the game-winning points, putting the Nitros up, 6-2, at 12:41.

The six-point flurry proved only the tip of the iceberg, as the Nitros outscored the Pioneers, 18-0, after Simi Valley’s opening bucket in going up, 18-2, at the half.

“Once we saw the team, we expected to do well,” said Sahakian, who finished with six points and six rebounds. “We just had to outrun them and tire them out.”

Perhaps lost in the fact that Glendale scored the final 18 points of the first half was the Nitros’ strong defense.

In the first half, Glendale forced 11 turnovers, while allowing only 10 total shots and one field goal.

Unfortunately for Simi Valley, the second half was just as unkind, as the Pioneers went more than 10 minutes before adding a point on a free throw from Sulka with 9:01 remaining in the second half.

Prior to that, the Nitros scored the first 16 points of the second half in taking an incredible 34-2 advantage.

Some of the highlights of the Nitros’ 16-0 run to open the second half were a rebound and coast-to-coast unabated layup from Karah Hui with 16:07 remaining that put Glendale up,

24-2.

On the following possession, Sahakian rebounded a missed shot and led a fast break with an outlet pass to Marial Telebrico for an easy layup.

Despite Glendale’s prowess, the biggest applause from a sympathetic crowd came with 2:25 left in the contest when Sulka connected on a 10-foot jumper to account for all her team’s points.

“We’re missing six players on this team due to summer vacation,” Simi Valley Coach Sabrina Jenkins said. “So, we just played with who we had.”

Ivet Satorian led the Nitros with eight points, while Hui added seven points.