With a 69-30 win over the West Ranch Wildcats on Friday night, the Valencia Vikings head into Monday night just one win away from clinching the team’s first outright Foothill League championship since the 2020-21 season.
“It’s really exciting. That’s one of our goals this year before the playoffs is to be league champs again,” Valencia head coach Jared Honig said. “Hopefully we’ll take care of business and hopefully be outright league champs this year.”
The win over West Ranch (19-8, 4-7) was another big victory for the Lady Vikings (22-4, 10-0) as the team recorded its 10th win out of the past 11 games.
Three Valencia players scored in the double figures for Valencia in Friday’s win over West Ranch with senior Cara McKell leading the team with 18 points.
With Valencia High School celebrating senior night on Friday, it was fitting that the biggest performance came from McKell as Honig added after the game that her leadership helped build back Valencia over the years.
“Definitely an emotional night, Cara McKell, a four-year varsity player, and Cayden Senegal, a three-year varsity player are moving on after the season. But they just really helped build it back up,” he said. “I got here and they were part of the foundation that’s taking us to new heights, so they just worked so hard, they’re really committed.”
Sophomore Kamilla Basyrova was second in the team in scoring with 16 points and tallied five rebounds and six assists.
For West Ranch, senior forward Maia Garrison led all Wildcat players with 16 points and did all she could to keep her team in the game.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to fifth in the Foothill League standings and must win in the team’s final game against the fourth-place Hart Hawks for an automatic berth into the CIF-SS playoffs.
The Wildcats play on Wednesday at 5 p.m. against the Lady Hawks at West Ranch High School.
As the Lady Vikings look to finish the year strong, Honig is going to keep Valencia from trying to be complacent as he wants them to go into the playoffs with the most momentum possible.
“We’re going to treat every league game that remains as a playoff game, so we can build that momentum when the playoffs start,” he said.
The Lady Vikings were looking to win the Foothill League title on the road Monday night against the Canyon Cowboys with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m.
After Friday night’s games, here are scores from around the Foothill League:
Saugus 56, Hart 28: The Lady Centurions (19-8, 9-2) won their final road game of the season with a victory over Hart (10-16, 4-6).
While the Lady Centurions are in second place in the Foothill League standings, the Lady Hawks remain in fourth place despite the loss.
The Lady Hawks were looking to hold on to fourth place in the standings with a road matchup Monday night against the Castaic Coyotes while the Lady Centurions play their final game of the year at home against the Grizzlies.
Both games tip off at 5 p.m.
Canyon 72, Golden Valley 38: The Cowboys (15-11, 7-3) are winners of their last five out of six games following a victory over the Grizzlies (12-13, 2-8) Friday night.
The Cowboys were looking to continue their winning ways Monday night at 5 p.m. at home against the Valencia Vikings.
As for Golden Valley, the Lady Grizzlies were to hit the road for a matchup against the Lady Centurions with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m.
