Cold

Santa Clarita, CA - Despite the recent heat wave across Southern California, the Citrus College Women's Basketball program finally experienced a cold stretch from downtown. The Owls hit just three total threes, shooting 25% from downtown, for their second lowest output from that range this season in a 61-72 loss to SoCal #6 College of the Canyons on Wednesday night.

 The Owls fell in an early hole on the night, as Canyons scored eight of the first ten points of the game. Citrus wouldn't get any closer than four points in the first quarter, trailing 6-10 after a layup by freshman Marisol Chavez-Delgado. The Cougars would answer with back to back buckets though and go on to lead Citrus 19-12 after the first 10 minutes of action,

In the second quarter, Canyons would score the periods first points via a pair of free-throws, but trailing 21-12, the Owls finally got some offense going thanks to a triple from sophomore Janae Chamois, layup by freshman Marisa Brown, and a conventional three-point play by Chamois to pull Citrus to within one at 20-21. The Cougars would finally stop the Owls' small run with a layup, but four straight points by sophomore Allison Zalin gave Citrus a 24-23 lead for a short time with 6:55 to go. 

The lead was very brief though as Canyons would turn around and score the next six points to jump back out in front by five. The Owls would do their best to try to catch the Cougars, but they would end up going into halftime trailing by eight 31-39. 

The Owls came out of the break and looked like they were finally beginning to put things together. Sophomore Elsie Mejia got things off on the right foot by hitting a three on Citrus' first possession after a big offensive rebound by Zalin. After that it was more or less game on. Citrus wouldn't put together runs larger than four or more points over the next seven minutes, but they just kept chipping away at the Canyons lead.

Trailing 50-46, the Owls would put together their best stretch, getting a layup by Chavez-Delgado, a jumper by sophomore Natalie Gutierrez, and a layup from Chamois to again regain the lead 52-50 for a little while with 27 seconds left in the quarter. Canyons would stop the bleeding with a layup of their own with five seconds to go and the two teams would head into the final frame knotted up at 52. 

The two teams would trade empty possessions for the first two and half minutes of the fourth quarter, until Canyons finally hit a layup with 7:37 to go. The Cougars would score three more points, before Citrus would even score their first points of the quarter, on a jumper by Chamois with 5:36 to go, but by that time, the Cougars had firmly planted momentum on their side. Canyons would go on to score the next five points, and the Owls would get their deficit down to five points twice, the last coming with 2:14 to go. The Cougars outscored Citrus 6-0 in the final minutes of competition, sealing the Owls' fate. 

In the loss, Chamois led Citrus with a team high 17 points, adding eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Zalin pitched in with 11 and a team high nine boards, while Chavez-Delgado had 10 points and five rebounds. 

With the loss, Citrus drops to 15-9 overall and 8-3 in WSC South play. The Owls will be back in action on Saturday when they host Los Angeles Valley College (11-13, 7-4) in a must win game. Tip-off is set for 3:00 PM.