Glendora, CA (Women’s Basketball) – When the 2006-2007 Citrus College women’s basketball season began, the team knew they had a long road ahead of them as they played most of the year with only 6 players on the roster. The Lady Owls lost most of their games in the 2nd half when they would get tired and forget to execute. The last 3 games, however, have been a revelation for the Lady Owls, as they took a potential playoff team to overtime and became winners of their final two games of the season. All of it came to crescendo tonight as Citrus beat Santa Monica. 58-57.
The game was a back and forth affair as the Lady Owls took the lead for the first 7 minutes of the game, and leading by as much as 7 points. The Corsairs wouldn’t go away however as they used an 11-2 run to capture the lead with 11:40 to go in the 1st half. Santa Monica would then swing things towards their favor taking a lead as large as 9 points with 5:59 left in the 1st half.
It was at that point that the Lady Owls used a run of their own to get back into the game. Over the next 3 minutes the Lady Owls would out-score Santa Monica 12-0 capped of by an Amunique Henderson 10 foot jumper to push the Citrus lead to 3 with 2:37 remaining. Both teams would trade points, before the Lady Owls settled for a 1 point 29-28 lead at the half.
In the 2nd half it was Santa Monica who would jump out to an early lead, cruising to a 7 point margin in the first 3 minutes of the half. The Lady Owls came back though, briefly taking the lead at 12:04 when JaTon Parham grabbed a rebound, passed the ball out to Amunique Henderson who ran the length of the floor, before finding Parham back under the basket for a lay-up.
Again the Corsairs would surge, taking an 8 point lead with 9:35 left, but Citrus proved too pesky and refused to go away. Citrus would regain the lead again with 3:56 left to play, after Parham got another lay-up and was fouled, this time off an Alex Arreola assist. Parham sank the free-throw and put the Lady Owls up by 2.
After a series of missed opportunities for Citrus, Santa Monica tied the game back up after Zedra Slaton hit a jumper with 3:01 to go. The Corsairs would take the lead once again, when at 2:27 Slaton hit one of her two free-throws, giving Santa Monica a 56-57 lead. On Slaton’s miss, Santa Monica got the ball as it went out of bounds after touching a Citrus player.
On the inbound Ashleigh Osbourne threw up a 3-pointer but it fell short, and Shatonn Harris grabbed the rebound with 2:18 left. Harris was fouled as she grabbed the board, and was sent to the line with a 1 and 1 situation. Harris calmly nailed both free-throws giving Citrus a 1 point lead at 58-57. Santa Monica would have two more opportunities too score, but both shots fell short and the Lady Owls took home their 3rd conference win of the year.
In the win the Lady Owls were led by none other than JaTon Parham who scored a game high 25 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. Jenny Sirk was the only other Lady Owl in double figures as she scored 12 points, and Shatonn Harris grabbed a game high 15 rebounds in the win.
With the win the Lady Owls finish their season at 6-23 and 3-9 in WSC South play.
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