Unawed Taft Stays Unblemished

Untested, unheralded and undefeated.

The Taft High girls’ basketball team was supposed to get its first real test on Wednesday, facing defending West Valley League co-champion Chatsworth.

Give the Toreadors an A-plus.

They routed Chatsworth, 76-56, surprising everyone but themselves.

“I felt all along that we matched up well with them,” said Coach Mark Drucker of Taft, whose Toreadors, ranked No. 7, played the softest nonleague schedule of any team ranked in The Times’ regional top 10.

Taft (14-0, 3-0 in league play) did better than match up.

Guards Christina Aguinaga, Denisha McCoy and Schquay Brignac outscored Chatsworth’s backcourt of Liz Sun, Britney Hamilton and Ashley Shelton, 49-33.

Taft’s reserves outscored the Chancellors’, 12-2.

Taft made 29 of 54 shots (54%), compared to Chatsworth’s 22 for 62 (35%), and handled the Chancellors’ usually stifling press.

Aguinaga scored 24 points, including six three-pointers. McCoy had 15 points, Brignac scored 10 and Tiffanie Hamilton added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Shelton scored 15 points and Lindsey Eichler had 14 points for Chatsworth (12-6, 2-1).

“I thought we were ready for them,” Coach Raquel Alotis of Chatsworth said. “It was frustrating.”

All-Valley guard Sun picked up her third foul in the second quarter and sat out almost 10 minutes. Sun and the high-scoring Hamilton combined for two points in the first half and each finished with nine.

“It all came down to heart,” Sun said. “They had it and we didn’t.”

Alotis, who guided the Chancellors to the City semifinals last season, was visibly upset.

“I didn’t do any rebuilding [after the game],” she said. “I did shredding. The rebuilding starts . . . Friday.”

That’s when Chatsworth meets defending co-champion El Camino Real (10-4, 3-0).

Chatsworth travels to Taft on Feb. 2.

Taft, which hosts El Camino Real on Wednesday, is seeking its first league title since 1994-95.