Can’t Catch Up

Valley Glen, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Basketball team suffered its second straight loss on Saturday night. The Owls got off to a slow start, scoring just 11 points in the first half, and couldn't catch up despite outscoring their opponents in the second half. When the buzzer sounded, Citrus fell to host LA Valley College 55-40.

Things didn't start out the way it finished. Citrus freshman Natalie Lam scored on the Owls' first possession, but it went downhill from there. LA Valley scored the next 16 points, as Citrus was held scoreless over the next 11 minutes. The Owls wouldn't score again until 8:43 was left in the first half when freshman Jaelyn Wilson hit a jumper that made it 4-16.

Citrus would score seven points over the next eight minutes, but would trail by 17 at the break with the Monarchs up 28-11. In the first half alone, the Owls were 5 of 27 from the field (18.5%), and 1 of 7 from three (14.3%).

In the second half, the Owls came out like a much different team. They scored the first seven points of the of the half, and made a game of it five minutes in, clawing their way to within 10 points of the lead after a jumper from sophomore Sarah Rebibo made it 28-18. It never got closer than though, even though Citrus outscored the Monarchs by two in the second half 29-27.

Wilson led the way for the Owls with a team high 13 points. Sophomore Nicole Zugasti was the next highest scoring player with eight points to go along with a game high 10 rebounds. Lam ended with eight, while Rebibo and sophomore Arianna Caffey each had six points each.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 14-11 overall and 3-6 in WSC South play. The Owls will be off on Wednesday before resuming conference play on Saturday when they host Bakersfield College for a 7:00 PM tip-off.