It’s Not How You Start…

Rancho Cucamonga, CA -- As the saying goes, it's not how you start, but how you finish. That statement was no more apparent than on Sunday afternoon as the Citrus College Women's Basketball team took on Glendale College in the Consolation Championship Game of the 2012 Panther Pride Tournament. The Owls overcame an ugly start, but finished strong beating the Vaqueros 51-36.

Citrus would lead from the tip, but shot an atrocious 4 of 22 from the floor (18.2%) in the first half, and were held to a season low 17 points in the first 20 minutes of play. The Owls' largest lead of the first half would be just four points when a jumper from sophomore Ella Rodriguez made it 11-7 with 11:41 to go. It didn't get any better after that though as Citrus went 1 for 9 from the field with six turnovers in that stretch.

The Owls opened up the second half on a promising note though when sophomore Sarah Rebibo drilled a three to push Citrus' lead to seven and break a nearly five minute drought that began in the first half of no field goals for Citrus. Glendale would rally back crawling to within a bucket with just under 14 minutes to play, when the Owls went on a 17-5 run that was capped off by a jumper from freshman Jaelyn Wilson that gave the Owls a 41-27 lead with 5:20 to go.

Citrus would push their lead to as large as 19 points with just two minutes to go after freshman Olivia Montgomery hit a pair of free-throws to make it 50-31 in Citrus' favor. Glendale would hit a few free-throws down the stretch to limit the Owls' lead, but the win was never in doubt for Citrus.

In the win, Citrus was led by Rodriguez who scored a game high 17 points to go along with a team high 9 rebounds. Wilson added nine and seven for Citrus, while Montgomery came off the bench to pour in 10 points and four rebounds.

With the win, Citrus improves to 5-1 on the year. The Owls will be back out on the hardwood this weekend when they take part in the Moorpark Tournament. Citrus leads off the tournament by taking on Northern California's Gavilan College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 PM on Friday.