Owls Swarm Glass and Wildcats in Non-Conference Finale

Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Women's Basketball team wrapped up non-conference play on Wednesday evening with a convincing 44-29 victory over visiting West Los Angeles College. The Owls did it by swarming the glass, out-rebounding the Wildcats 59-33 including a 25-10 margin on the offensive side, and by swarming West LA on defense, holding them to just five first half points and 22.2% shooting for the game.

It took a little while for Citrus' offense to get rolling, but the defense was solid from the jump. The Owls scored the game's first bucket, a jumper by sophomore Marisa Brown a minute and a half in, and never trailed or let the Wildcats tie the game for the remainder of the way. West LA's first points wouldn't come until just under the eight minute mark, when they hit the back end of two free-throws, and Citrus wouldn't give up a West LA field goal until there was under five minutes to go in the second quarter.

At the end of one, Citrus was well in control of the game, leading 16-2. Both teams struggled to put the ball in the hoop in the second quarter, but the Owls still managed to outscore the Wildcats to take a commanding 21-5 lead into halftime. In the third, the Wildcats would put together their best offensive stretching, using a 12-2 outburst to pull within seven with just under two to play. The Owls would close out the third on a 7-0 run, and then go onto score the first four points in the fourth quarter to pull back into a comfortable lead and never looked back.

In the win, Citrus was paced defensively by sophomore Elizabeth Rios. Rios came off the bench and blocked a game high eight shots, tying a single game program record for the Owls. Rios also pulled down a game high 13 rebounds, including five of the offensive variety. Sophomore Jasmine Meza was the team's leading scorer with 15 points. No other player finished in double-digits, but Citrus did boast six players who scored at least four points in the win.

With the win, Citrus improves to 4-12 on the year. The Owls will hit the road on Saturday night to start Western State Conference East Division play against State #16 Los Angeles Valley College. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM.