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Playing Against Boys Pays Off for McCutcheon

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Forget club teams and the high school season.

Crystal McCutcheon of Antelope Valley High earned a women’s basketball scholarship to Pepperdine based on her performance against boys during a sixth-period pickup game.

“They must have confidence in me if they offered me a scholarship without ever seeing me play in a high school game,” said McCutcheon, who signed with the Waves two weeks ago.

McCutcheon, a Times’ All-Valley guard, was overlooked by many colleges that didn’t see her because Antelope Valley played few quality teams last season. It has upgraded its schedule this season.

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The Antelopes (3-1), ranked No. 5 in the region, came within a last-second basket of taking No. 3 Harvard-Westlake (4-0) to overtime on Saturday in a 41-39 loss in the Antelope Valley tournament final.

McCutcheon averaged 17.9 points and 5.7 assists last season, when she led Antelope Valley to its first Golden League championship since 1988.

At Pepperdine, she will join All-Ventura County forward Jennifer Lacy of Agoura, who also signed early.

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It would be difficult to find a girls’ player in the region with worse luck than senior guard Erin Stepheson of Harvard-Westlake.

Stephenson missed most of her sophomore season after severely cutting her hand while carving a pumpkin a month before the Wolverines’ opener.

She missed most of last season after injuring her knee during a summer tournament.

Last week, Stepheson sprained an ankle during warmups before a preseason scrimmage.

“This one isn’t as bad,” said Stepheson, a senior guard who was expected to be cleared to practice on Monday.

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Brittney Hamilton had a tough time cracking the starting lineup as a sophomore at Buena last season, but she is proving to be an impact player at Chatsworth.

Hamilton, a junior who transferred last summer, scored 17 points in the Chancellors’ 45-41 victory over Granada Hills last week and helped her team to a 3-1 record and second place at the Washington tournament.

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Bridget Harris of Newbury Park, the Marmonte League player of the year, will appear in her first game since January tonight at Chatsworth.

Harris, who underwent knee surgery and missed her team’s last nine games last season, did not play in the Panthers’ opener last week against Hueneme because she was on a recruiting visit to Brown.

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Basketball Top 10

Rankings of teams from the Valley and Ventura County

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Notre Dame (Mission) 1-0 2 2 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 1-0 3 3 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 5-0 4 4 Simi Valley (Marmonte) 4-0 5 NR Moorpark (Marmonte) 3-0 6 NR Newbury Park (Marmonte) 4-1 7 NR Agoura (Marmonte) 4-0 8 8 Grant (Sunset Six) 0-1 9 NR Canyon (Foothill) 3-1 10 5 Oxnard (Pacific View) 3-2

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GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Buena (Channel) 1-0 2 2 Newbury Park (Marmonte) 1-0 3 3 Harvard-Westlake (Mission 4-0 4 4 Ventura (Channel) 4-0 5 7 Antelope Valley (Golden) 3-1 6 5 Agoura (Marmonte) 0-1 7 6 Oxnard (Channel) 1-3 8 8 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 2-0 9 9 Taft (West Valley) 4-0 10 10 Chatsworth (West Valley) 3-1

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