Cougs come up short

LOS ANGELES — Michelle Eclar has seen numerous games on television that have been broadcast from the Staples Center.

She’s watched the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Sparks play a lot since the building opened in 1999. Now, the Glendale Adventist Academy senior girls’ basketball player can say she competed on the same hardwood that the professionals athletes have.

“It’s a pretty amazing thing,” said Eclar, who contributed 14 points, six rebounds and four steals in Glendale Adventist’s 29-26 nonleague loss to Redlands Adventist Academy on Monday at the downtown venue. “It’s a lot bigger and we weren’t used to the size of the court.

“It was great to be out there on the court and play in front of a pretty good crowd.”

Glendale Adventist (2-3) did it’s best to keep up with Redlands Adventist (6-2), but the Cougars had no answer in their quest to stop Lynae Bakland.

The 6-foot Bakland finished with 13 points, 14, rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocked shots to tame the Cougars. She had seven points and 10 rebounds in the first half to help the Bulldogs take a 19-10 halftime lead.

Glendale Adventist also didn’t score on its first eight possessions of the game, which helped the Bulldogs build a 8-0 lead in the first quarter. The Cougars later went on an 8-2 run of their own to catch the Bulldogs at 10 with 6:38 to play in the first half.

The Cougars closed to within 26-24 on a pair of free throws by senior forward Clarissa David with 5:23 left in the game. Glendale Adventist fouled Bakland on a three-point shot, which led to her making two of three free throws to extend the lead to 28-24 with 2:54 remaining.

“We didn’t execute much early on, and we didn’t run the stuff that we normally do,” said Glendale Adventist Coach Chris Lindstadt, who got eight points from sophomore guard Chantel Robinson.