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Antelope Valley Says Goodbye to Bye

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Antelope Valley High was given a first-round bye in the Southern Section Division II-A girls’ basketball playoffs.

Then it was taken back.

Instead of playing their first game on Saturday, the Antelopes (19-4) are hosting Glenn in a first-round game on Thursday.

“I was totally jazzed with a bye,” said Coach April Davenport, who guided Antelope Valley to its first Golden League title since 1988.

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“Then we were told they kind of overlooked one team that had enough wins to get in.”

Davenport quickly came up with a positive spin on the extra game.

“I think the girls are going to like it because it’s one less day of practice,” Davenport said. “It’s going to give us a little easier game than coming in on the second round. No way are we overlooking Glenn, but now we’re not going to be playing our first game in the second round.”

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Valencia would just as soon forget last week.

Two weeks ago, the Vikings clinched their first Foothill League title. Last week, they lost to Saugus and Canyon, teams with a combined record of 20-30.

Instead of basking for a week in the limelight, Coach Jerry Mike had to console his players after Friday night.

“I told them, ‘Don’t forget, we won league,” Mike said. “We’re not world-beaters, but we beat the second-place team twice and the third-place team twice.”

The good news: Valencia (16-9) has an opportunity to win its first playoff game in girls’ basketball. The Vikings play Santa Monica on Thursday in a Division I-AA first-round game.

The common-game scores favor Valencia. Saugus handily defeated Santa Monica, 79-60, early in the season. Saugus beat Valencia twice, both times on last-minute plays.

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“First league title, first playoff win, that would be kind of cool,” Mike said. “Two things accomplished this season. Who knows from there?”

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