B All In.
That was the motto for the West Valley girls basketball team.
“On the back of our shirts, our warmup shirts, it says ‘B All In,’” head coach Andy Edwards said. “They were all in, and it just worked out in the end.”
That mentality led the Eagles (22-8) to a 9-1 league record and the 2026 Northern Athletic League title.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, the Eagles carried that success to a 44-30 win over University Prep in the 2026 Northern Section Division IV championship game — West Valley’s first NSCIF title since the 2019-20 season.
It wasn’t an easy fight for the Eagles on Saturday night. Every time the Eagles seemed to be gaining separation on the scoreboard, the Panthers (19-9) would respond right back. West Valley only held a two-point lead heading into the fourth.
But the Eagles took over in the fourth, outscoring the Panthers 17-5 to earn the win. Junior forward Jordyn Harles scored eight of her 10 points in that fourth, but it was senior Emily Huddleston’s game-high 18 points that really fueled the Eagle offense.
“That’s one girl I’m so proud of because she will go shoot shots on her own at home,” Edwards said of Huddleston. “Her senior year, she had a bit of a struggle, but she deserves this spotlight for sure. If it wasn’t for her, we may not have won our last couple games.”
Huddleston was the second leading scorer throughout the season with 9.6 points per game for this squad, and she scored 16 points against Lassen in West Valley’s semifinal playoff win.
Huddleston immediately came out firing against U-Prep and scored seven points in the first quarter.
“We needed to win, not just for myself, but for everybody else,” Huddleston said. “We needed this for all the seniors, for our team, for our classmates. We put a lot of time in, extra practices on the weekend. It’s just been a lot of hard work.”
Huddleston was part of the squad that lost to U-Prep in the section championships a year ago and turning it around into a win this year — her final year with the team — only means that much more.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we finally pulled through this year,” Huddleston said. “We actually lost to them last year, so that was really rough, but I’m glad this year around we got the win.”
Huddleston’s 18 points match her second-highest scoring output of the season, and it didn’t happen by accident. Huddleston spends every second she can working on her game. She even challenges herself to shoot 100 free throws every time she practices.
“Any free time that I have, I’m just outside playing basketball,” Huddleston said. “It’s just so exciting that all the time that I put in outside of practice, shooting, dribbling, has paid off.”
The Eagles ended the season on a very different note than they started it on. West Valley was able to pull off wins despite some sloppy play. Turnovers, especially in transition and on fast breaks, were a big issue for this squad early on.
But throughout the season, the team clicked, and it led them to a section championship.
“It’s been amazing. At the beginning of the season, it was a new coach, new system, new everything,” Edwards said. “But, I think that they’re starting to grow IQ-wise and understanding how important that ball is.”
The Eagles have a young squad. Huddleston is one of just four seniors on the roster and two of them came off the bench in the championship game.
“We’re still young, so we still do dumb things, but overall playing U-Prep for the third time is very nice. We both know each other so well and I think that helps,” Edwards said. “We still have a long ways to go for next year.”
But the season isn’t over yet. The Eagles earned the No. 5 seed in the Division IV CIF state playoffs and will host No. 12 Mills (Millbrae, CA).
The Vikings (14-13) defeated Santa Cruz 35-30 on Feb. 28 to win the Central Coast Section Division III Championship.
That first round state playoff game is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 at West Valley High School.
For Huddleston, the plan over the next few days is simple.
“Eat healthy, practice after practice, and keep myself in shape outside of practice,” Huddleston said. “Just working hard, and that’s pretty much it.”
Brett Abrams is a sports reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. He covers high school and local sports in the Redding area. Reach out to Brett with any sports tips or news on X (formerly Twitter) @brabrams_ or by email at Brett.Abrams@Redding.com. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: West Valley girls basketball wins first Northern Section title since 2020
Reporting by Brett Abrams, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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