Second Chances

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Basketball team took advantage of their second chances on Saturday night. The Owls out-rebounded the visiting West Los Angeles College Women's Basketball team 16-7 on the offensive side of the glass, and outscored the Wildcats 17-5 in second chance opportunities. It turned out to be the key to the game as the Owls' earned their first conference win 60-58.

It looked liked it could be a long night from the start as West LA scored easily in their first possession and then forced the Owls into a turnover on their first trip down the floor. The Wildcats scored off the turnover, but Citrus didn't rattle. The Owls got things rolling with a jumper from freshman Jaelyn Wilson and then Citrus got an offense rebound that led to a layup for freshman Jasmin Longtin to jump start the offense early on.

Still West LA clung on to the lead for most of the first half. The Owls briefly took the lead 12-11 with 14:19 to go after a fast break lay-up from freshman Natalie Lam, only to see the Wildcats take it right back on their next possession. Each time West LA tried to pull away though, the Owls got an answer and went into the break trailing by just a single point thanks in large part to a big trey from Lam that made it 32-31 at the half.

The second half would be like a trip to the local park to play. It was like being on a see saw with six ties and 13 total lead changes in the second half alone. The Owls grabbed just their second lead of the game right off the bat when sophomore Nicole Zugasti kicked off the half with a jumper in the paint. The Owls would hang on to it for most of the next 10 plus minutes until things really got tight.

The two teams would trade the lead and/or tie the game up in what seemed like nearly every possession in the final eight minutes. West LA wrestled the lead back from Citrus, only for them to take it right back moments later. The Wildcats' last lead would come after they answered a layup from sophomore Sarah Rebibo that had given Citrus back the lead, with a layup of their own that put West LA up 54-53 with 2:59 on the clock.

Rebibo would give the Owls the lead back a little less than a minute later when she hit a pair of free-throws to make it 55-54 Citrus after a technical foul was assessed to the Wildcats. On Citrus' next possession, Rebibo headed back to the charity stripe where she hit two more free-throws to put the Owls up three.

West LA would respond with two free-throws of their own, but Citrus wasn't fazed. Instead they went back to their bread and butter in the second half, Zugasti. Zugasti hit another jumper in the paint for her 15th and 16th points of half to put Citrus back up three. West LA would cut it to one with a little less than three seconds to go, but Lam hit the back end of two free-throws with a little over a second to play and West LA's desperation game winner was well short, giving the Owls the victory.

Zugasti would finish with a team high 18 points in the game, adding a game high 11 boards to boot. Lam finished with 15, 14 of which were scored in the first half. Rebibo scored 10, eight of which was scored in the final four minutes of the game, and handed out a team high four assists.

With the win, Citrus improves to 12-9 on the year and 1-4 in WSC South play. The Owls will head to Santa Monica for their final game of the first half of conference play on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.