Nitros fall in final minute to league foe

BURBANK — The final 30 seconds of Wednesday night’s Burbank Summer League game between the Glendale High and Burbank girls’ basketball teams featured suspense that would usually be reserved for some point in the regular season.

There’s no chill in the air, but the final moments kept everybody’s attention.

Glendale had two shots on its final possession, but couldn’t convert in a 25-24 loss.

Playing their second game of the summer season, the Nitros held a 24-22 lead before Burbank’s Evelyn Abrami made a three-pointer from the left side to give the Bulldogs a 25-24 lead with 27 seconds left. Glendale had two shots to win the game, but fell short.

The Nitros, who qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs in February after finishing fifth in the Pacific League behind Muir, Crescenta Valley, Burroughs and Burbank, got a team-high 14 points from guard Stella Ghazarian. Ghazarian made a pair of free throws to make it 24-20 with 52 seconds left. Burbank then ended the 40-minute contest on a 5-0 run.

Ghazarian finished with four three-pointers, including three in the first half to give Glendale a 14-13 halftime advantage.

Glendale was originally scheduled to face Arleta, which didn’t show up on time and had to play later Wednesday. Burbank filled in for Arleta.

“I wasn’t really surprised that we played Burbank because sometimes in leagues like this, things can happen,” Glendale Coach Tania Adary said. “Since we played Burbank, we got a little taste of playing a league rival.

“I don’t think we were tired, but I think they depended a lot on Stella scoring. We are trying to find a good combination of guards and post players and players who need to fill into their roles. We want to find a good five who can put things together.”

It might be a high hurdle to jump since Glendale lost the nucleus of its offense from last season to graduation in forward Lidia Rivas and guards Anna Shahinian and Marlow Tomasian. All three earned all-league honors last season, which saw Glendale finish at 12-14 and 5-9 in league.

Glendale will next compete in another Burbank Summer League game at 4 p.m. Wednesday against Pacific Hills. The Nitros will also compete in additional tournament contests against Granada Hills, Mark Keppel, Burbank and L.A. Marshall.