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Hart's Whitten Dominguez driving against the Centurions. Dominguez finished with 18 points to help Hart claim the Foothill League title (February 9, 2018)

Canyon Girls And Hart Boys Win 2018 Foothill League – Santa Clarita Basketball Report

Something was missing for the Hart Indians in their first meeting at home to Saugus, an 86-74 loss. They found whatever it was from the tip on Friday.

“They [Hart players] were embarrassed with how they played after that first game,” said head coach Tom Kelly following yesterday’s league clinching 79-62 win at Saugus.

“They [Saugus] kind of pushed us around a bit, and we weren’t going to let that happen again.”

In the first meeting between Saugus and Hart, the contest was well in hand for the road team. The same story unfolded in the second meeting, which happened to be for the league title and a guaranteed home playoff game.

Hart came out from the opening team focused and ready to work–every loose ball, every rebound had Hart players jumping around and fighting for the ball.

They got easy buckets inside thanks to their work on the offensive glass, and the three-headed monster of Luca Robinson, Whitten Dominguez and Tre Harrill combined for 56 of the 79 points.

When those three are all going offensively, the Indians are tough to beat.

Hart’s most impressive work from the night was on defense. The Indians held Saugus to it’s lowest scoring output of the Foothill League season (62).

They suffocated Saugus’ leading scorer Adrian McIntyre, forcing him to throw up contested shot after contested shot. He finished with 20 points, but well below his average of 28.

Both teams will await the playoff brackets to be released to see who they’ll be playing next week.

Canyon put its stamp on the latest chapter of the Valencia/Canyon girls basketball rivalry with a 10-0 Foothill League campaign.

Two seasons ago the Valencia Vikings went perfect in league play and Canyon sat in second place with an 8-2 record.

Last season, both teams took a bite out of one another in the Foothill League, sharing the title with 9-1 records.

This year, the Cowboys evened things out with a 10-0 league season of their own after Friday’s 45-37 title clinching win at home.

It’s only fitting that it would be head coach Jessica Haayer’s first senior class she’s had for all four years. And the senior heavy squad showed off their experience in the second half of Friday’s game.

Up 24-20 at halftime, the Vikings quickly erased the lead with a 6-0 run for their first lead. That would be all the wake up call Canyon needed.

A three-pointer from senior Rachel Bowers. A lay-up from Gabby Sanchez. A couple free throws from Talia Taufaasau.

Just like that, a 7-0 answer by the Cowboys and that was the closest Valencia would get again as they would only manage 17 second half points.

No. 9 Canyon will receive a home playoff game next week in the highly competitive and newly formed Division 1 (Divisions 1A and 1AA were combined for this season) of the CIF Southern Section.

Just like last season’s Division 1AA championship game, there’s always a possibility this rivalry can be renewed again in the postseason. To be continued.

KHTS Sports is your place for Santa Clarita Sports Report and the winter sports season. Find all the latest news and updates on your hometown schools here as they compete in the Foothill League, Heritage League, Western State Conference and GSAC. If you have any news and notes about our teams and players to share please send them to jp@hometownstation.com, like us on facebook.com/khtssports and follow us @KHTSSports on Twitter.

Canyon Girls And Hart Boys Win 2018 Foothill League – Santa Clarita Basketball Report

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About Justin Powell

Justin moved to the San Fernando Valley from the Inland Empire in 2011 to complete his BA of Communications degree at California State University, Northridge. Just a few months after getting his degree he moved to Valencia and started as an intern at AM-1220 KHTS, and was promoted to Sports Reporter within a year. Though Justin is still relatively new to the Santa Clarita Valley, he is an avid sports fan and passionate about building the sports department at KHTS into a special source for local high school sports.