Owls Drop Early Lead; Falls to Chaffey 51-54

Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Women's Basketball team couldn't have asked for a better start to their CCCAA meeting with Chaffey College on Saturday afternoon. The Owls held the visiting Panthers to 1 for 15 shooting from the floor in the first quarter, and converted 56.3% of their attempts as they jumped out to a 20-7 lead. That didn't hold though as the Owls would be outscored 34-17 over the next two quarters en route to a 51-54 setback.

 Sophomore Jessica Rosas would spearhead the early lead, scoring 10 of her game high 22 points in that first quarter. The Owls would score 16 of the first 17 points of the game, and Citrus didn't give up a field goal to Chaffey until the 3:28 mark in the first quarter. 

The Panthers would start out the second quarter on a 7-0 run, cutting the Owls' lead down to six, but freshman Cassandra Martinez broke up the run with a jumper at the 6:43 mark. At that point it was game on, Chaffey would whittle down the Owls lead to three with just over four minutes to go, but Martinez came up big once again, hitting a triple off a pass from Rosas that pushed the lead back to six. 

One possession later, Martinez pushed things to eight points with a jumper off a pass by freshman Sally Hernandez. The two teams would trade scores down the stretch of the first half, with freshman Celeste Fekay having the last say, hitting the front end of two free-throws to make it 32-28 headed into halftime. 

In the third quarter, Chaffey finally usurped Citrus when they outscored the Owls 13-5, when Citrus shot a miserable 10.5% from the floor in that 10 minute stretch. The Panthers would even the game up at 32-32 at the 6:55 mark in the quarter, but sophomore Elizabeth Rios hit a jumper after reeling in an offensive board to reclaim the lead briefly. 

That lead would last all of 27 seconds, when the Panthers were sent to the line for three shots from the charity stripe that they hit to take their first lead of the game 35-34 with 6:04 to go. Rosas would help Citrus regain the lead yet again on a jumper that she hit in the paint after claiming an offensive rebound of her own, putting the Owls back in front 36-35 with 4:54 left. Rosas would push the lead back to two hitting the back end of two free-throws, but Chaffey closed the quarter on a 6-0 spurt to head into the final frame leading 41-37. 

Chaffey would once again open up a quarter with a run, scoring the first six points to extend their lead to the largest of the day at 10. Martinez would finally break-up the run hitting a three with 7:05 to go. A layup, on Citrus' next trip down the floor by Rosas would make it a five point deficit for Citrus, but the Panthers pushed their lead to nine with 3:37 to go. 

That's when the Owls made their last push, getting four straight points by Hernandez to make the score 48-53 with 1:39 to go. The Owls and Panthers would trade empty possessions, until Rosas came up big once again, taking a pass from sophomore Marisa Brown and hitting a huge three pointer from the wing to pull the Owls to within two with 35 seconds to go. 

After going for the steal, Citrus fouled and sent Chaffey to the line where they missed two free-throws. Brown would pull in the rebound for Citrus, but the Owls turned the ball over putting it back in the hands of the Panthers. Citrus would once again foul, and this time Chaffey hit one of two to go back up three. Rosas would grab the board and race up the side of the floor, launching a desperation potentially game-tying three that rimmed in and out.

Martinez was the only other beside Rosas to end in double figures, scoring 14 points. Rosas tied Brown for the rebound lead with nine each, while Rosas also got her hands on three Panther shots for three blocks. 

With the loss, Citrus falls to 2-9 on the year. The Owls will be back in action this coming weekend when they take part in the West Los Angeles College Wildwest Shootout. Citrus opens up against Ventura College (7-5), ranked #14 in the State and #7 in SoCal. Tip-off is set for 3:00 PM in Culver City. ​