El Cajon, CA (Women’s Basketball) -- For the second straight game, the Citrus College Women’s Basketball team went head to head with a ranked team and for the second straight game, the Owls picked up a victory. After knocking off State #8 Mt. San Jacinto on Wednesday, the Owls went on to the next one with a 52-49 win on Thursday over SoCal #15 Cypress College.
Citrus went out early on the Chargers who played in the CCCAA State Championships just last season. The Owls went into the break up 26-21 on Cypress. Sophomore Brianna Barfield carried much of the offensive load in the first half scoring eight points for the Owls.
In the second half, Citrus continued to apply pressure to the Chargers going up by as much as 11 points with 16:06 left in the game. Cypress proved to be too tough though to keep down for long as they surged forward even taking a two point lead with 2:18 left in the contest.
That’s when the Owls went to work. Barfield scored on back to back possessions to put Citrus back up by two. On the defensive end of the floor, Citrus turned it up a notch forcing Cypress into back to back turnovers. On the offensive side, Citrus continued to attack as freshman Kenya Thomas converted a pair of free-throws with 28 seconds to push Citrus’ lead to four points.
Cypress would convert on their next trip down the floor with 18 seconds left, but the back end of a pair of free-throws from Sarah Rebibo would push Citrus’ lead back to three points with 12 seconds to go. Citrus again turned to their defense as they forced the Chargers into a missed jumper at the buzzer securing their second straight win against a ranked team.
In the win, Citrus was led by Barfield who scored a team high 16 points. Thomas and Rebibo both added 11 points a piece, and freshman Gabriella Rodgers contributed six points.
With the win, Citrus improves to 11-3 on the season and advances to the Championship Game of the tournament. The 11-3 start is the best start to a season by the Owls in recent memory. Citrus will take on Antelope Valley at 5:00 PM on Friday for the tournament championship.
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