Struggling Bell-Jeff Starts Moving in Right Direction

BURBANK — Less than a month has passed since Bell-Jeff High raised its first Southern Section championship banner, commemorating the Guards’ 1996-97 Division IV-A girls’ basketball title.

With that kind of reminder hanging above them, they were hardly ready to wave a white flag after seven losses in 10 games this season.

The Guards took a giant step back toward respectability Monday with a 47-36 victory over Glendale in the first round of the Bell-Jeff tournament.

The Guards (4-7) will face Immaculate Heart tonight at 6 in the quarterfinals.

“We knew it would be a rebuilding season,” said first-year Bell-Jeff Coach Jess Rodriguez, whose task has included replacing Jaclyn Johnson, now at Kansas, and Cheryl and Felicia Flores, both playing at Pierce. “We just didn’t think we’d be rebuilding this much.”

The return of guard Laura Lunsford has helped. Lunsford missed Bell-Jeff’s first eight games with a strained back. The Guards are 2-1 since her return.

She bailed out Bell-Jeff in the second half Monday, scoring eight of her nine points in the final 12 minutes after leading scorer Stacy Cobb fouled out midway through the third quarter with Bell-Jeff leading, 30-20.

Cobb, a senior and the only returning starter from last season’s 31-2 team, finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman center Ana Coronado added 11 points and nine rebounds for Bell-Jeff.

Mania Houspian scored 10 points for Glendale (6-6), which has struggled in nonleague play after being picked by rival coaches to be the top challenger to top-ranked Crescenta Valley in the Pacific League.

In other first-round games:

Alemany 80, St. Monica 51--Sophomore guard Kate Beckler continued her torrid scoring pace with 30 points for the Indians (7-3).

Beckler, who also had 10 steals, has scored 94 points in her last three games to increase her season average to 20.1.

Kelli Kobayashi added 11 points and seven assists for Alemany, which had all 11 players score.

St. Monica fell to 6-3.

Crossroads 61, Oak Park 20--Brenda Pasqua scored 10 points for the Eagles (1-7) in a loss to the Roadrunners (8-1).

Rosamond 48, La Canada 18--Center Tina Tharp had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Roadrunners (3-5).

No one scored more than four points for La Canada (3-8), which was outscored, 18-2, in the fourth quarter.

St. Mary’s Academy 50, Van Nuys 18--No one scored more than four points for Van Nuys (1-6).

Royal 66, Sacred Heart of Jesus 29--The Highlanders (10-1) took a 14-0 lead after one quarter and cruised to a runaway victory.

Kristen Galbreath had 12 points, Jessica Sanders scored 11 and Teresa Russell added 10 for Royal, ranked sixth in the region.