Citrus Secures Home Opener Win

Citrus College faced some adversity but dug down deep to grab a 59-58 victory over Irvine Valley College Friday.

The Owls improve to 3-1 with the win while the Lasers drop to 2-1 with their first loss of the young year.

As a team, Citrus shot 45.2-percent from the floor with two Owls finishing the night with big numbers. Katherine Goostrey posted 22 points (6-for-15) and eight assists, while Giselle Garcia-Nunez scored 20 points and snagged 12 rebounds.

The Owls opened the game with four consecutive points to grab an early lead. Goostrey knocked down two free throws before the game even started due to an administrative foul before finding Garcia-Nunez under the basket for the first live points of the night.

Citrus kept pushing and built its lead to double-digits just four minutes before halftime. Goostrey found Reanne Reola just outside the key to put the Owls in front 26-15.

Trailing by nine at the break, the Lasers came out fired up in the third and tied the game 41-41 heading into the final quarter.

Reola stole the ball away and Garcia-Nunez banked in a layup to spark a 6-0 spurt to force an IVC timeout.

With just under five minutes to go, the Owls found themselves in unfamiliar territory, trailing 51-50. Krystle Medrano and Garcia-Nunez took care of business at the line to put Citrus back in front, 56-51.

Things got interesting with just 15 seconds on the clock as IVC pulled within one and forced a Citrus turnover to get the ball back. The Lasers missed a triple attempt but grabbed the board. Once again IVC missed its chance to take the lead as the ball went out for a Citrus rebound and hand the home team the 59-58 victory.

The Owls head to El Camino College on Wednesday for the El Camino College Crossover, tipping off at 7:00 p.m.