Girls’ basketball: Youth movement guiding a grand Canyon

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Coach Stan Delus knows his Canyon girls’ basketball team is young. He knows his team is inexperienced. He also realizes pretty much everybody has tagged his team as the big underdog from the Foothill League.

And he’s totally fine with that.

‘Everybody said we were the big underdogs back in ’06 when we went all the way to the title game,’ Delus said. ‘We’re hoping for another miracle run this season.’

Delus was pumped up following his gals’ 65-43 victory over Valencia on Friday. And why not? Canyon managed to grab the league’s final playoff spot with two sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup.

Delus understands his team will continue to be an underdog in the postseason and is crossing his fingers that his team can escape what will be a challenging first-round matchup next week. But even if things don’t go the Cowboys’ way, he’s got 11 players returning next season.

‘I can’t wait until next year,’ Delus said. ‘It’s going to be exciting.’

-- Austin Knoblauch