Glendora, CA (Women’s Basketball) – The Lady Owls forced visiting Compton College into 38 turnovers and just 21.9% shooting in the first half, on their way to a 79-67 win over the Tartars. With the win, Citrus improves to 4-0 for their best start in three seasons.
Citrus wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead. After the game was tied up at six points a piece, the Lady Owls went on a 25-4 run to push their lead to 31-10. Compton would begin to battle back, but Citrus would go into half-time with a comfortable 22-point 44-22 lead.
In the second half, Compton’s shooting began to improve as they shot 50% from the floor, but Citrus’ defense continued to force the Tartars into errors as they turned the ball over 17 times in the second half alone.
With improved shooting, Compton would begin to cut into Citrus’ lead, but for every Compton charge the Lady Owls would have an answer. The Tartars would pull to within 11-points with just over seven minutes to play, but freshman guard Jessica Nieves calmly sank back to back free-throws to push the lead back to 13. From then on Citrus’ lead would never fall below 12 points as they cruised to a 12-point 79-67 win.
For the fourth straight game, the Lady Owls were led by a new high scorer, as Nieves poured in a team high 18 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the floor and 6 of 6 shooting from the charity stripe. Elisabeth Mejia tied Shaton Harris for the team lead in rebounds with seven, while Harris helped fill the box score with 12 points, 7 boards, and a team high 8 assists and 6 steals.
Citrus will take tomorrow off to celebrate Thanksgiving, but will get right back in the saddle as they begin their first tournament of the season at L.A. Pierce College this weekend. The Lady Owl’s open up the tournament with East Los Angeles College. Tip-off is set for 3:30 PM in Woodland Hills, CA.
Box Score