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It was long and hard but after six CIF Southern Section semifinals appearances and 442 victories in 22 years as the girls’ basketball coach at Burroughs High, Vicky Oganyan is finally going to play for a CIF Southern Section championship.
Burroughs fortunately didn’t have to go very far from home, as the Bears traveled down Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood, where they defeated Oakwood School 44-35 in a CIF Division 5 semifinal.
“Sometimes you can coach 35 years and never be in a semifinal. We’re just lucky to have good kids that work hard,” Oganyan said.” Defensively, I thought we did an outstanding job. That was first and foremost. Offensively Izzy (Amoroso) hit some big threes and Grace (Barton) stepped up with a big three at the end.”
“In the semifinals and finals nothing is going to come easy. The kids have to make plays and that’s what they train for. I tell them they have to improve their skills because when it comes to winning important games, coaches can’t do much. It is the players that really carry the team.”
Senior Elizabeth Amoroso, who led her team with 15 points, said her team remembered being bounced out in the semifinals a year ago.
“I think the experience from last year was one of our main motivations coming into this game. It was a very devastating game last year. We were so close to getting to the finals,” Amoroso said. “This year we wanted to get our coach to the finals to get her to experience it at least once. We’re all really excited that we got there.”
Burroughs (22-10) will face Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara in the finals next weekend. The time and location will be announced in the next 48 hours. Bishop Diego defeated Godinez 48-42 in the other semifinal.
Burroughs, which has not missed the CIF playoffs since the late 1980s, never trailed in the contest. The Bears were never clearly ahead, nor were they even in danger of losing the lead.
The Bears led 17-12 after one quarter and 27-17 at halftime.
After a slow start in the third quarter, Barton hit a 3-pointer with 4:13 left in the period to give Burroughs a 30-22 cushion.
Amoroso hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the third, as Oakwood had pulled to 32-26. She also hit another 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.
Isabella Amayakyan hit a 3-pointer with 4:15 to play to make it 41-32.
Barton had 11 points. Jessica Mena had seven points, Valentina Morales had six and Amayakyan had five.
Oakwood (17-9) was led by Madelyn Geronimi, who finished with 13 points.
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Jim Riggio
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