Glendora, CA (Women’s Basketball) -- The Citrus College Women’s Basketball team got their license revoked on Saturday night. The Fighting Owls were taken out of the driver’s seat for the second playoff spot in the WSC South when they lost to Santa Monica College 59-53. The loss drops Citrus out of second place and moves Santa Monica into it.
The game would be tight throughout the entire 40 minutes with 10 lead changes and six ties. Both teams traded points for the first 11 minutes of the game. Neither team took control until the game was tied up at 15-15 with 9:40 to go. That’s when the Lady Owls went on a 10-0 run book ended by lay-ups by Christina Kinney and Yvonne Sanchez.
Leading 27-17, Citrus saw their double-digit advantage dwindle to a lone point after Santa Monica’s Karlia Batalla got a fast break lay-up off a Citrus turnover with 58 seconds left in the half. The Corsairs would force Citrus into a missed 3-pointer and another turnover in the final two possessions, and then scored the final basket of the half to take a 32-31 lead into the break.
The two teams would continue to share the lead in the second half with six of the 10 lead changes coming in the final 20 minutes alone. Citrus’ last lead would come at the 4:51 mark when Briana Barfield took a defensive rebound and went the length of the floor to score giving the Lady Owls a 49-48 lead.
Santa Monica quickly answered with a jumper by Dominique Magee that jump started a 7-0 run that ended with a Chantel Diaz lay-up that gave the Corsairs a 56-49 lead with 1:49 to go. Citrus would cut the lead to six after Barfield hit one of the two free-throws and then three after a deep trey by Yvonne Sanchez, but Santa Monica hit three of four free-throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
Barfield would score 15 points and grab 13 rebounds as Citrus fell to 14-11 overall and 6-3 in WSC South play. Santa Monica was paced by Diaz’s 23 points and 12 rebounds and improved to 13-11 and 6-2 in the process. Citrus will try and bounce back from their third loss in four games on Wednesday when they travel to Glendale College (9-14, 2-6). Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM.
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