Better Late Than Never

Glendora, CA -- After nearly 38 minutes of play in Friday night's CCCAA contest between Citrus College and visiting Grossmont College, the Owls had led for just one minute and 29 seconds of action. As the saying goes, it was better late than never as Citrus grabbed the lead from the Griffins with just over a minute to go in a 59-54 win for the Owls.

Things didn't go so well to start as Grossmont scored 10 of the first 12 points of the night. Citrus didn't panic though and slowly began to chip away at the Griffin lead getting a three-point play from freshman Tyvette White and a triple from freshman Vanessa Garcia to pull within two.

Grossmont would keep Citrus at arm's length for most of the first half, but the lead briefly going up 17-16 thanks to a White jumper with 6:25 to go and then again on a jumper from sophomore Jaelyn Wilson that made it 19-18 with 5:59 to go. In the end the Griffins closed the first half on a 12-4 run to go into the break up 30-23.

Grossmont would continue to hang on to that lead for most of the second half as well. The Griffins never pulled away from Citrus, but always kept it at least a two possession game. Their largest lead over the Owls would come with just over seven minutes to go when they went up six. That sparked a mini run for Citrus though that got them back in the game.

Three straight jumpers from freshman Jackeline Perez, sophomore Natalie Lam and sophomore Jasmin Longtin knotted the game up at 47 all with 5:35 to go. Grossmont responded with a three, but so did Garcia for the Owls to keep it tied up at 50-50. The Griffins tried to take back the momentum in the contest with three free-throws, but Wilson wouldn't let the Owls lose.

Wilson scored four straight points for Citrus, getting the first of two free-throws and then hitting a huge triple with 2:03 to go to tie up the game at 54 all. Grossmont never scored again. Sophomore Taylor Jackson finally gave the Owls back the lead 56-54 with 1:08 to go, and Lam helped extend that lead with another basket with 32 seconds left that made it 58-54. Wilson would make it a near three possession game with another free-throw and 13 seconds to go, as the Owls forced the Griffins in to poor shots down the stretch to preserve their first win of the year.

In the win, Citrus was led by Longtin who had a team high 14 points to go along with a team high 10 boards for her second double-double of the young year. Wilson added 11 as did, White who scored her 11 off the bench for Citrus. Jackson meanwhile had eight assists and six steals for the Owls.

With the win, Citrus improves to 1-2 on the year. The Owls won't be back out on the court competing for two weeks when it opens up the Panther Pride Tournament hosted by Chaffey College, with a match-up against Southwestern College. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM on Friday December 6th in Rancho Cucamonga.