Valencia girls basketball crushes West Ranch to stay unbeaten in league

VALENCIA — Valencia’s girls basketball team continued its dominance in the Foothill League on Tuesday night, as the Vikings defeated West Ranch 82-29.

The Vikings (14-3 overall), who are 4-0 in league and ranked No. 3 in the area by the Daily News, held a 32-0 lead over West Ranch (14-4, 2-3) after the first quarter. The Vikings had nine steals in the opening quarter.

“I thought we came out really strong, we’ve been doing really well in the first quarter coming out strong and aggressive,” Valencia coach Jared Honig said. “We like scoring 32, but we really like even more the 0 on the other side.”

Valencia senior Cara McKell had 23 points, five assists, five rebounds and three steals. Sophomore guard Kamilla Basyrova had 21 points, four assists, four steals and made four 3-point shots for the Vikings.

“We’re just really putting our standard out there and showing teams what we’re made of and not settling down,” McKell said. “I just think not forcing shots and getting what I can get has really helped the team.”

Valencia outscored West Ranch 34-7 in the third quarter to take a 74-23 lead. McKell and Basyrova were both out of the game at that point, and the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

Valencia’s starting forwards, Keira McLaughlin and Alexis Epie, had strong performances. McLaughlin had 13 points, five assists, three steals and three blocks, while Epie had 13 points, five rebounds and three steals.

“Early on in the season, I had a talk with coach Jared and he was just saying that it’s kind of my role to facilitate and make things happen for us,” McLaughlin said. “Defense has really been an emphasis for us. At practice we get after each other and our coach is telling us we are our biggest competition.”

Valencia has won its four league games by an average margin of 52 points and it has held its league opponents to 25 points per game.

Freshman point guard Sophia Sarkar had four points, six assists and five steals for the Vikings.

Valencia’s next game is Friday against No. 14 Canyon (10-9) in a Foothill League game.

The Vikings will take on Corona Centennial in the Burroughs Showcase on Saturday. Centennial lost to Sierra Canyon, the No. 1 team in the Daily News rankings, 62-55 on Dec. 30.

Mia Vallas had eight points and four rebounds for West Ranch.

The Wildcats will look to bounce back against Santa Clarita Christian (5-7) on Thursday.