Millennium beat 5A section rival Canyon View for the second time this season in a clash between two top 14 ranked teams in Arizona.

The No. 14 Millennium Tigers beat No. 10 Canyon View Jaguars 48-28, improving to 12-8. The Jaguars fell to 18-2 after getting its second loss of the season. 

Millennium is reasonable for both of the only losses the Jaguars have had this season.

Millennium started the game on fire, outscoring Canyon View 22-5 in the first quarter. However, the Tigers were outscored 7-8 in the second quarter taking a 29-12 lead into halftime.

“They (Canyon View) went man and we struggled with that a little bit. Last we played they had a lot of success in a zone, we were able to find success against it early. When they made a change it took us a while to adjust,” Millennium head coach Kevin Thomas said. 

The Tigers hang their hats on defense, and that is what kept the Jaguars from ever making the game too competitive. Thomas went on to give the Jaguars credit for forcing the Tigers to adapt to what the defense was doing. 

Millennium would go on to then outscore Canyon View 19-10 in the second half, giving it an impressive 20-point victory. Millennium sophomore guard Elli Guiney led the way scoring a team high 16 points.

What’s impressive about this victory was that Millennium was down its senior and leading scorer in Trayanna Crisp, who is recovering from a knee injury.

While Crisp is an important part to the team, assistant coach Charles Wilson praised the Tiger’s next man up mentality. 

“That’s just a testament to our program and the culture. Everyone plays a pivotal role, one goes down, we pick eachother up. We don’t miss a beat,” Wilson said. 

Wilson also went on to mention how Crisp was still on the bench bringing energy to the team and how the team is as close as ever.

Millennium has won both meetings between its 5A Desert West section rivals Canyon View. Millennium Athletic Director Remigio Gordillo spoke on how sweeping a rival made finished what was a great night for the Tigers.

“Any time you can defeat a division rival that’s always a good thing. Anytime you can establish dominance in a region it’s a great night,” Gordillo said. The home crowd loved what they saw tonight from the Lady Tigers, with the gym packed long after the game there were zeros on the clock.

Millennium now holds a 12-8 record on the season with a perfect 5-0 record in Desert West section games with only five games left in the season.