Glendale, CA (Women’s Basketball) -- The Citrus College Women’s Basketball team opened Western State Conference South Division play on Wednesday night and came away with a 46-38 win on the road at Glendale College. The Owls were just too deep for the Vaqueros as Citrus’ bench outscored Glendale’s bench 24-0.
Wednesday’s game saw Citrus get off to a rather slow start offensively. The Owls trailed the host Vaqueros for the majority of the first half, grabbing their first lead with just 4:41 to go in the first period after sophomore Julia Tani sank a jumper that made it 17-15.
That lead would be short lived though as Glendale took it back less than two minutes later. Over the final four minutes of the first half, Citrus took over the lead four times. Three times Glendale took it back, and the fourth time the Vaqueros tied the game back up at 25 all, a score that would stand at the break.
In the second half, Glendale would retain control of the score and lead for most of the final 20 minutes. Citrus would keep it close though as they tied it up three times in the final frame. The last time the Owls would knot up the Vaqueros, sophomore Brianna Barfield hit the back end of two free-throws to make it 32-32 with 11:56 left.
That would start a nearly eight minute span in which neither team scored. Glendale would finally break the drought with 3:50 to go using a layup to go up 34-32. Citrus came right back down the floor though and got a huge three ball from freshman Sarah Rebibo that put Citrus up by one.
The trey kick started an 8-0 run for the Owls that was capped off by Rebibo hitting one of two free-throws with 2:01 left that made it 40-34 in favor of Citrus. From that point forward Citrus never looked back as their lead didn’t drop below five points on their way to an eight point victory.
In the win, Citrus was led by Tani’s team high 10 points. Barfield along with fellow sophomore Jasmine Cox and freshman Kenya Thomas each reeled in a team high five boards.
With the win, Citrus improves to 12-4 on the year and 1-0 in conference play. Citrus will be back at home on Saturday when they host SoCal #11 College of the Canyons on Saturday. The important early season conference meeting tips at 5:00 PM in the Owl’s Nest.
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