“It’s a fresh start for us,” said Ghookasian, whose team finished 5-18 and 2-8 in the Pacific League last season. “We are young and excited.
“They like the sport. We are starting from ground zero, so this is like tryouts in terms of figuring out who can do what. We want to keep the players that are interested instead of the ones who are sort of interested.”
Hoover’s first and only lead came at 3-2 on a layup by forward Lauraine Barakat with 11:45 left in the first half. After that, Mark Keppel dominated the rest of the 40-minute contest. Barakat and Sharis Rostamian each had five points for Hoover.
Mark Keppel built a 19-8 halftime lead before scoring the first seven points in the second half to make it 26-8 with 17 minutes remaining.
Jessica Mkrtchyan of Hoover made a three-pointer to cut Mark Keppel’s lead to 26-12 with 13:30 left in the contest.
“We want to have a different feel and look to the team,” Ghookasian said. “I’m not worried about wins and losses [in the summer]. We know it’s going to take time, but we want to be able to focus on winning.
“Every mistake I made last season, I’m trying to correct. I told them that we aren’t going to be the best offensive team, so the main thing for us will be to focus on defense, rotations and communication.
“It’s our first summer game, so we have time to practice our offense.”
Hoover, which lost all-league pick Chelsea Baqueiro and her 14 points per game to graduation, will next compete in another Burbank tournament contest at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Canyon.
The Tornadoes are also slated to play additional tournament games against La Salle, Arleta and league rival Burbank.
