No Chill

Glendora, CA -- It had been awhile since the Citrus College Women's Basketball program had officially defeated the College of the Canyons Women's Basketball team. 21 tries to be exact. The Owls' last victory over the Cougars came back on Wednesday January 19, 2005. Citrus finally got that elusive "W" by riding sophomore Tyvette White, who had no chill, in dropping a career high 28 points in a 62-60 victory on Wednesday night.

The crucial WSC South contest was close for the first nearly 14 minutes of the first half. The Cougars led throughout most of that time, but the Owls were keeping it close, trailing by just three with 6:27 to go. That's when the wheels came off for Citrus. Canyons closed the first half 16-4 run that saw the Owls go 0 for 7 from the field over a six minute stretch. The rough bit saw Citrus head into halftime trailing 21-36.

Once the second half started though, a flip was switched. Citrus opened up the second frame on a 15-0 run that saw freshman Kayla Brady tie the game up at 36-36 with 12:33 to go. Canyons finally broke up the streak with a pair of free-throws, but by then, the game was on.

Canyons would actually, respond to Citrus' run with a small run of their own to go back up by nine points with 8:08 to play, but that's when White went into hyper drive. White started off with a jumper from the left wing, and then hit a step back three to make it 46-50. White then hit a jumper in the lane to pull the Owls to within two. Freshman Janae Chamois would tie the game back up at 50-50, only to watch Canyons make trips to the charity stripe in three of their next four possessions, where they hit all their free-throws.

Citrus had an answer each time. White would tie the game up at 52-52, while sophomore Bobbie Johnson knotted the game up at 54-54. White would again tie the game up at 56, with a pair of her own free-throws, but it was Citrus' next possession trip down the floor after two more Cougar free-throws that finally put the score in their favor. With Chamois driving, the defense collapsed leaving sophomore Vanessa Garcia wide open behind the arc on the left wing. Garcia, who was just 1 for 5 prior to that, drilled the wide open shot and put the Owls on top 59-58.

The Owls would get a stop as Canyons went back down the floor, and again White pulled through for the Owls putting them up 61-58 after hitting a lay-up off a pass from Chamois. Canyons would get it back to within one with 45 seconds left, but White pushed it back to two by hitting the front end of two free-throws with 21 seconds to go. Canyons would get two more looks at it, but came up empty each time as the Owls came away with the victory.

In the win, 19 of White's 28 points came in the second half. Chamois would be the only other Owl in double figures as she added 10 along with five assists. White and Johnson tied for the team lead in rebounds, as each hauled in eight.

With the win, Citrus improves to 10-10 overall and 3-4 in WSC South play. The Owls will be back at home on Saturday night when they host first place Santa Monica College (15-6, 7-1) at 5:00 PM.