Off Target
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Citrus (0-1,0-0) | 22 | 16 | 38 |
|
Long Beach (1-0,0-0) | 25 | 20 | 45 |
El Cajon, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Basketball team had a tall task on their hands on Saturday evening when they took on State #8 Long Beach City College in the semi-finals of the Grossmont Holiday Tournament. The Owls played close with the Vikings, but were off target, shooting a season worst 24.5% from the floor in a 45-38 loss.
Citrus found themselves in an early hole from the get go, as Long Beach ran out to a 9-3 lead over the Owls. Citrus answered though with an 8-2 run, drawing even with the Vikings after a layup from freshman Jaelyn Wilson made it 11-11.
The Owls took their first lead of the game, since the opening tip, when freshman Olivia Montgomery converted a triple to make it 14-13 with just over ten minutes to go in the first half. Citrus would then push the lead to as much as four points when Wilson hit a three ball that made it 19-15 with 8:04 on the clock.
Unfortunately for Citrus, that would be as good as it got, as Long Beach scored 10 of the final 13 points of the half to go into the break up 25-22. The Owls got it to within one to open up the second half after a jumper from Ella Rodriguez, but they wouldn't get any closer.
Long Beach would score the next three points pushing their lead to four, and from that point forward the Owls wouldn't get closer than two. That happened when sophomore Sarah Rebibo made a jumper that cut the Viking lead 30-28 with 11:38 to go. That sparked a mini 6-0 run for Long Beach though, and marked a nearly six minute stretch where Citrus failed to score, punctuating the Owls' 5 for 25 shooting effort in the second half.
In the loss, Rebibo and Montgomery would lead the way with each scoring a team high nine points. Montgomery also pulled in a team high eight rebounds, while Rebibo handed out a game high three assists.
With the loss, Citrus falls to 10-4 on the year. The Owls will try and rally from Saturday's defeat in the third place game on Sunday afternoon against the tournament's host Grossmont. It's the second meeting between the two squads in the last two weeks as they squared off back on December 14th. Citrus won that contest 65-31. Tip-off for Sunday's game is at 2:00 PM.