Glendora, CA(Women’s Basketball) – The Citrus College Lady Owls have lived out their 2007 season as if they were a character in a Charles Dickens novel. All season long it’s been a tale of two halves. The 1st half the Lady Owls are competitive and keep things close, but when the 2nd half rolls around the Lady Owls lose steam and lose the game. Tonight was no different as they were held to 8 second half points in their 38-61 loss to LA Valley Wednesday night.
The 1st half saw the Lady Owls open up with a 4 point lead after Shatonn Harris hit back to back 3-pointers to begin the game, and with both coming off Stacy Antonio assists. The Lady Monarchs refused to go away however, as they took control of the lead with 14:27 to play in the 1st half after Saida Johnson hit a jumper to give LA Valley the lead.
They would build that lead to as much as 10, but the Lady Owls battled back closing the 1st half with a 7-1 run that was sparked a pair of three’s, this time of the finger-tips of Antonio. Going into half-time the Lady Owls only trailed by 2, 30-32, and was triggered by its 7 of 9 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.
Coming out of the locker-room however, the Lady Owls saw a different story develop rather than the Cinderella one they had hoped to create. Instead of knocking of the 3rd place team in WSC South play, the Lady Owls made only 2 of its 26 field goal attempts (7.7%). The Monarchs defense shut down the Citrus offense, and the LA Valley offense continued at the pace it set before scoring 29 mostly unanswered points in the 2nd half.
Not only did the Lady Owls shoot poorly, but they were also out-rebounded 46-26 on the glass, a stat they usually hold their own in. They finished the game shooting 23.1% from the field and 53.8% from beyond the 3-point arc. JaTon Parham had a team high 16 points and 9 rebounds.
With the loss the Lady Owls fall to 4-21 and 1-7 in conference play. The Lady Owls road doesn’t get any easier as it travels to square off against the states 6th ranked team in College of the Canyons. The Lady Owls suffered a 53-102 defeat at the hands of the Cougars earlier in the season. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm in Valencia, CA.
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