Owls Outplayed in Second Half

San Jacinto, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Basketball team closed out their first tournament of the 2015-2016 season in disappointing fashion on Sunday afternoon. The Owls took on Chaffey College in the 3rd Place Game and were simply outplayed in the second half, in a 65-76 loss to Panthers.

Citrus fired the opening salvo on the afternoon, scoring seven of the first nine points of the game. Chaffey wouldn't make it easy on the Owls in the opening frame, but Citrus did hold a 19-16 lead after one quarter of action. In the second, Citrus continued to hang on to their lead until a 8-0 run by the Panthers flipped the script and put their lead in their favor. The Owls trailed the rest of the game, and only tied the game up in the closing seconds of the second quarter thanks to a three from sophomore Natalie Gutierrez.

In the third, Chaffey quickly jumped back out to the lead, but the Owls made it a game, tying the score up at 49-49 after a layup by freshman Marisol Chavez-Delgado. The Panthers closed the quarter though with a 4-0 run and Citrus trailed 53-49 through three. The Owls would make a fewer runs at Chaffey, tying the game up four times in the fourth, including at 61-61 after a lay-in by Gutierrez with 6:14 to go. The Owls never got close though, as the Panthers won by 11.

In the loss, Citrus Chavez-Delgado was the Owls' leading scorer again with 16 points and a team high 11 boards. Gutierrez poured in 12 off the bench, while freshman Marisa Brown had 11.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 2-2 on the year. The Owls will take a break from action this weekend, before opening up their home schedule on Tuesday the 24th when they host Grossmont College at 5:00 PM.