The Citrus College women’s basketball team entered the Saturday, Feb. 11 contest with a 6-17 record against the Glendale College Vaqueros, who had a 15-10 record.
After a 25-10 deficit after the first quarter, the Owls came back in the second half, but fell short to the Vaqueros, 54-45.
The Owls struggled offensively with seven turnovers in the first quarter and were outscored by 15. Vaqueros’ sophomore guard Luna Panosian had eight points and three rebounds, which gave Glendale a comfortable lead.
The Owls came out hot in the second quarter with the help of forward Marisa Brown. Brown made the first basket of the quarter with a lay-up, followed by a three-pointer from teammate guard, Jasmine Meza.
Meza kept the Owls’ momentum rolling and banked another three towards the end of the second. Brown made a layup with four seconds to go and Citrus trailed by three going into halftime, 30-27.
Brown credited head coach Linnae Barber Matthews for keeping the Owls’ momentum going into the third quarter.
“Coach told us to keep up the defense,” Brown said. “She was able to keep the team motivated and reminded us we have 20 more minutes to play.”
The Owls played hard defense in the third quarter despite the slow offense for both Citrus and Glendale, each team scoring only single digits. Citrus held Glendale to only eight points in the quarter.
Glendale’s freshman center Kristina Sahakian made a jump shot with 33 seconds left in the quarter to have a slight edge on the Owls going into the fourth, 38-36.
The Owls and the Vaqueros had a close battle during the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Sophomore guard Jessica Rosas made two timely jump shots to keep the Owls close, but it wasn’t enough as Glendale extended their lead in the last three minutes of regulation.
Glendale outscored Citrus 16-9 in the fourth to claim the win, 54-45.
Glendale’s head coach Joel Weiss attributed defense as the biggest factor in taking home the victory.
“Defensively we were good down the stretch, it was one of those games where it could have gone either way,” Weiss said. “But really for us, it came down to defense.”
The Owls (6-18) host Antelope Valley (13-13) at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Citrus College.
