Valley Shoots Blanks Early and Suddenly It’s Too Late

The suspense disappeared almost from the start.

College of the Canyons shut out Valley for nearly six minutes at the start and cruised to a 98-73 victory in a Western State Conference Southern Division women’s game Saturday night at Valley.

The Cougars (29-4, 12-0 in division play) won their third division championship in four seasons, taking the title from defending champion Valley (23-10, 10-2).

It was the 17th consecutive victory for the Cougars, ranked second in the state.

Canyons jumped to a 13-0 lead before the 13th-ranked Monarchs scored on a three-point basket by center Tanya McGlaughlin with 5:56 gone in the first half.

McGlaughlin, a freshman from Canyon High, finished with 31 points, 24 in the second half when Valley outscored the Cougars, 50-39.

“[Canyons] shot the ball really well at the beginning,” said John Taylor, Valley coach. “We just didn’t come out and play. . . . The second half is indicative of how we play.”

The Monarchs, who have suffered six losses to the top four teams in the state, committed 31 turnovers. They had 22 in the first half, when the Cougars repeatedly stepped into passing lanes to pick off passes.

Freshman center Zevette Mitchell finished with four steals for Canyons and teammate LaCresha Clark, a sophomore guard from Hart High, had three.

Mitchell had 14 rebounds, four blocked shots and scored 22 points. Her 11 points in the second half came on free throws.

Clark scored 17 points and forward Nikki Turner had 14, all in the first half.

The Monarchs went on a 10-0 run to open the second half and pulled to within 59-33. But Valley could not recover from its poor play in the first half.

Canyons point guard Kyetra Brown returned after missing six games because she failed to provide medical clearance after telling an assistant coach that she was treated for dehydration about two weeks ago.

Brown scored 12 points, including six on acrobatic driving layups.

The Cougars failed in an effort to score 100 points for the 15th time this season.