Courtesy COC Sports Information

COC Basketball

Both Canyons basketball teams were in tournament play yesterday.

The Cougars’ men’s team rode a strong double-double from Alex Sanchez (22 points, 10 boards) to a 66-61 opening round victory in the Cougar Holiday Classic. Next up is Orange Coast at 3 pm from COC.

Monica Freidl turned in a dominant performance for the Cougars’ women’s team Monday evening.

The sophomore led the way with 28 points on 11-21 shooting while grabbing 19 rebounds en route to an 81-78 Husky Classic versus East Los Angeles. Tonight the Cougars take on Mission in the Championship Game at 5 pm.

Santa Clarita High School Boys Basketball

The West Ranch Wildcats (6-5) are turning heads at the D1 Bound Southern California Classic.

The Wildcats followed up Saturday’s hard fought victory over Inglewood with another one point triumph Monday over Loyola, 65-64.

Austin Galuppo continues to score, dropping another 23 points to lead the Cats.

Hart and Golden Valley play their final group games in the Hart Holiday Classic this evening.

The Indians face Cleveland at 7:30, while the Grizzlies have a 4:30 tip-off with Grant.

Preparation for the Foothill League is going well for Canyon (8-4) in Santa Barbara. The Cowboys shook off the disappointment of the SFV Invitational to destroy Carpinteria in the opening round of the Santa Barbara Tourney, 69-40.

Up next for the Cowboys is Bishop Diego at 6 pm tonight.

Santa Clarita High School Girls Basketball

Saugus (10-3) continued its terror through the Burroughs Holiday Classic with a 57-29 blitzing of Marshall last night. The Cents look to make it 10 out of their last 11 this afternoon against Glendale. Tip-off is at 4 pm.

Up north in Palo Alto the Valencia Vikings are participating in the Eastside Coaches vs Cancer Classic where they’ll take on Berkeley today at 6 pm.

It was a low scoring affair in the La Canada Tournament for the Hart Indians, but a 37-32 win nonetheless over Thousand Oaks. Up next for Hart is an afternoon tip-off with Arcadia at 2:30.

Canyon fell to the tournament host, La Canada, 43-28. The Cowboys have the late game tonight against Royal at 7 pm.

Santa Clarita High School Boys Soccer

Hart (4-1-3) appears to be turning a corner on a listless start to the season with back-to-back dominant performances over Van Nuys and Heritage Christian, combining for 13 goals scored and none against in the two Tournament group games.

Today’s match pits the Indians vs Moorpark at 11am.

Two other teams competed in early morning Hart Showcase tournament matches today.

West Ranch (2-2-4) held on to its 2-0 first half lead against Crescenta Valley to take the 3-1 victory in the Hart Showcase.

Saugus (6-4-1) could not keep up with the undefeated Hueneme, falling 2-0. Quick turnaround for the Centurions, who take on Heritage Christian in their next group match at 3:30 pm.

In other tournament action across the Santa Clarita Valley, Canyon hits the pitch in the Valley Kick-off Tournament today attempting to break out of a three-game slump. The Cowboys face Taft this afternoon at 2:15.

The Vikings’ (7-1-1) impressive run to start the season suffered its first setback yesterday in the La Canada tournament, a 2-1 loss to a good Hoover side. They look to get back on track against Chaffey at 5 pm.

Los Angeles Lakers

Make it four straight poor performances for the Lakers after last night’s 108-98 loss at Charlotte. Bad Kobe reared his ugly head again, launching 12 three pointers with just three going in and managing 20 points on 20 shots.

The starting backcourt of Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson wasn’t much better, combining to shoot for a putrid 6-27.

On a stranger note: apparently Michael Jordan could not be bothered with appearing at Bryant’s final visit as a player to Charlotte; however, he did record a video message to honor the Lakers guard.