Stuck in the Second

El Cajon, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Basketball team came back from a long break on Monday afternoon when they opened up the 28th Annual Grossmont College Holiday Tournament against State #18 Cypress College. The Owls kept things close against the Chargers, but got stuck in the second quarter, in what was ultimately a 79-75 loss.

The Owls actually couldn't have asked for a better start to things, scoring seven of the first eight points of the game, and taking an 18-13 lead after the first quarter. The Chargers would open up that fateful second quarter with an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the day 21-20. The Owls would respond via a layup by sophomore Janae Chamois and a triple by sophomore Natalie Gutierrez to put Citrus back on top, but Cypress scored the next five points to take the lead back once again. The lead would change hands twice more, before Cypress closed out the final five minutes of the second quarter with a 8-1 run that saw them take a 41-34 advantage into the break.

In the third quarter, Citrus would match Cypress' offensive output as each team scored 26 points a piece. In the fourth, the Owls would outscore the Chargers by three, tying the game up twice in the last 1:16 of the game. The first would be when sophomore Allison Zalin hit the back end of two free-throws and the second on a lay-in by freshman Marisol Chavez with 39 seconds to go. Each time the Chargers had an answer though, as the Owls couldn't overcome Cypress late.

In the loss, the Owls were led by Chamois who scored a game high 17 points. Gutierrez added 15, while Adlao chipped in with 13 off the bench. Freshman Allison Zalin rounded out the superlatives with 12 points and nine rebounds.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 5-6 on the season. The Owls will be back in action on Tuesday at 1:00 PM in the consolation semi-finals against Bakersfield College.