By Justin HAGER

The CIF Southern Section girls’ basketball tournament is off to an incredible start for local student athletes after Crescenta Valley, La Cañada, Burroughs and Burbank high schools were all victorious in their first-round matchups on Saturday. Second round play took place on the night of Wednesday, Feb. 16 with results unavailable prior to CV Weekly press time.

Burroughs High School in Burbank kicked off the action Saturday night by hosting regional foe Flintridge Prep in a showdown of local league runners-up. Flintridge proved to be no match for Burroughs as the Bears trounced the Wolves 73-39. Burroughs traveled to Harbor College Tuesday night for their second-round match against Rolling Hills.

Burbank traveled to Frontier League champion Foothill Tech for an epic defensive battle that resulted in a 39-25 victory for the Bulldogs. Burbank hosted the Rowland Raiders at Burbank High School Tuesday night in their second round matchup.

In what was perhaps the most exciting game of the CIF winter tournaments thus far, La Cañada traveled to regional foe and Prep League champion, Providence High School (Burbank) on Saturday night. The third seed in Division 3AA, 18-5 Providence was favored over 14-6 La Cañada heading into the game. But the Spartans refused to go down quietly. The teams were separated by only one point with less than two minutes of gameplay remaining and by only three points going into the final possession. That’s when Providence senior Natalie Haroutounian put up a last second three-point shot that seemed destined to send the game into overtime. But the CIF is fickle and the ball rattled out of the hoop giving the La Cañada Spartans a three-point victory. With the win, the Spartans continued their uphill battle in the second round when they hosted the Foothills League champions and No. 1 seed in Division 3AA, the 21-8 Canyon Cowboys.

The Pacific League champion Crescenta Valley Falcons closed out the night’s action as they hosted Fullerton’s Sunny Hills High School Lancers. Despite several multiple score runs by the Lancers, the crushing Falcon defense eventually overwhelmed Sunny Hills, holding them to less than 15 points in each half. The final score of the game was Falcons 43, Lancers 25. CVHS traveled to Irvine on Tuesday night for their second round showdown with the Beckman High School Patriots.

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