Proving They Belong

Glendora, CA - After an up and down pre-conference season, the Citrus College Women's Basketball team had hit their stride over the last two weeks during the start of Western State Conference South Division play. Their biggest test thus far came on Saturday night when Citrus played host SoCal #8 College of the Canyons. While the result wasn't what they had hoped for, the Owls proved they belonged in the mix with a 75-70 loss. 

 The Owls couldn't have asked for a better start to the game. Citrus opened the game on a 10-2 run, holding the Cougars to just 0 for 6 shooting from the floor and forcing Canyons into three turnovers. Citrus knew it wouldn't be that easy though, as Canyons came charging back pulling to within a single point at 9-10, before a jumper by sophomore Allison Zalin and a triple by freshman Joy Adlao gave the Owls a little cushion. Citrus would keep that difference till pretty much the end of the first, leading by five 21-16 after a quarter of action.

Citrus got a great start again in the second, scoring seven of the first 10 points of the quarter, thanks to a jumper by freshman Marisol Chavez-Delgado, another three by Adlao, and a jumper by sophomore Janae Chamois that made it 28-19. Again though, the Cougars were too good for that large of a lead to last, as they whittled away at the Owl advantage over the final eight minutes of action to go into the break down three 41-38.

The third quarter, was when the action really began to pick up. In a game that saw four ties and seven lead changes, the majority of that fun happened in the final 20 minutes of play. Canyons would take their first lead two and a half minutes into the third 44-43. Citrus wouldn't let Canyons run away with the game though as the Cougars were only able to build the lead up to as much as four points, three times in the third. Citrus would even tie the game back up at 49-49 after a lay-up by Zalin, but by the quarters end, the Cougars led 56-52.

In the fourth, Citrus made their charge. Chamois led things off with a big three that cut the Cougar lead to one. Canyons would answer with a jumper, but the Owls rattled off the next six points with two free-throws from sophomore Elsie Mejia and lay-ups from sophomore Natalie Gutierrez and Chamois to make it 61-58 in favor of Citrus.

Canyons would answer by scoring the next four points, only to see the Owls briefly regain the lead 63-62 after a jumper by Chavez-Delgado. The lead would last all of 49 seconds as Canyons hit another two to go up by one. On Citrus' next possession the Owls would get the lead back thanks to a pair of offensive boards, when Chamois hit a huge three to give Citrus a two point advantage. The Cougars would tie the game back up on their next trip down the floor, but Chamois came up big again hitting two free-throws to make it 68-66 with 4:23 on the clock.

Once again, Canyons had an answer for the Owls scoring on their very next triple down the floor to knot the game up at 68. Citrus had one more answer in them though as Chamois diced through the lane and laid the ball up and in off the glass to make it 70-68 with 3:37 showing on the clock. Unfortunately, that was Citrus' last lead of the game.

Two possessions later, Canyons would tie the game up at 70. After a miss by the Owls on their ensuing possession, Canyons grabbed the lead for good with a jumper that made it 72-70 with 2:56 to go. The Owls would have more than a few chances to tie and/or regain the lead, but Citrus went cold down the stretch, while three of four free-throws by the Cougars closed Citrus out.

In the loss, Citrus was led by Chamois' game high 21 points. Chamois also recorded her first career double-double with a career and team high 10 boards to go along with seven assists. Gutierrez added 15 and nine rebounds, while Adlao had 12 off the bench.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in WSC South play. The Owls have another tough test come Wednesday when they travel to LA Valley for a 5:00 PM showdown.