Lam’s Herculean Effort Wasted in OT Loss to Glendale

Glendora, CA -- Citrus College freshman Natalie Lam scored a season high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a herculean effort for the Owls on Wednesday night. Her first career double-double was wasted though as the Owls dropped their Western State Conference South Division Opener to Glendale 52-47 in overtime.

Coming into the game, the Owls knew they were going to have to find a way to crack the Vaqueros' tough zone defense, and Citrus did just that in their first few possessions. The Owls scored six of the first eight points of the game and scored on three of their first five possessions.

Things didn't come as easily after that though. Glendale grabbed their first lead of the night, 8-6 at the 11:22 mark, but the Owls rallied with an 8-1 run that was capped off by a three from Lam that made it 14-9 with 7:25 to go. Shortly thereafter Citrus began to labor again, and before Citrus knew it they went into the half tied at 18 all.

Glendale came out with momentum on their side in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the period. Citrus would pull to within three after a three ball from sophomore Ariana Caffey made it 28-25 with 15:11 to go, but Glendale put some distance back to between them and the Owls and kept them at arm's length for the next eight minutes.

Citrus would finally draw even with Glendale at 33 all after Lam hit the back end of two free-throws with 7:43 on the clock. After forcing a turnover on Glendale's next possession, Citrus even regained the lead thanks to a jumper from sophomore Nicole Zugasti that made it 35-33 with 7:23 to go.

Glendale would tie the game back up thrice more at 37, 38, and 41 taking a late lead back for themselves with 47 seconds on the clock. Only a pair of free-throws from freshman Jaelyn Wilson with 29 seconds to go, would put the game into overtime all knotted up at 43.

The Vaqueros would open up overtime with a three ball that was quickly answered by Lam on Citrus' first possession. That was practically all Citrus got in overtime as the only other point scored came from one free-throw by Wilson. Glendale meanwhile put the game on ice, by scoring six more points as they went on to win.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 11-6 on the year and 0-1 in WSC South play. The Owls will have another tall task at hand on Saturday when they travel to Santa Clarita to take on College of the Canyons on Saturday evening at 5:00 PM.