Lady Cougars Host 2017 'Canyons Crossover'

The College of the Canyons women's basketball team hosted the inaugural two-day 'Canyons Crossover' event in the Cougar Cage Jan. 6-7, attracting a field of four teams from the Western State Conference (WSC).

Joining Canyons (5-13) as participants at the event were Ventura College (15-5) from the WSC North, as well as Antelope Valley College (6-12) and Citrus College (3-12) from the WSC, East division. 

The Lady Cougars were winless at the event, dropping a 59-43 contest to Antelope Valley on Friday, before falling in Saturday's game to Citrus by a 64-54 margin.

The game vs. Citrus also featured the return of former COC women's basketball assistant coach Linnae Barber, who is in her second season at the helm of the Owls program. 

Ventura College emerged as the big winner of the weekend after defeating Citrus 78-45 on Friday, and coming back to close out Antelope Valley 58-48 the next day.

COC freshman guard Dayna Tanaka led the offensive charge through the weekend with a combined 31 points, seven rebounds and two steals across the two-game event.

On Saturday, Tanaka finished with a game-high 21 points vs. Citrus on a 6-of-12 shooting night.

Four players scored in double figures vs. Citrus for head coach Greg Herrick's squad with Morgan Bizzell (11 points), Marina Rojas (10 points) and Gissel Sanchez (10) joining Tanaka.

Bizzell had a combined 26 points and 21 rebounds over the weekend, posting a double-double on Friday against Antelope Valley, with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds — including 13 on the defensive end.

Rojas finished the weekend with a combined 15 assists in the two games to go with 12 steals. Her totals of nine assists and seven steals against Citrus led all players in both categories.

Canyons returns home at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, for a matchup with L.A Pierce College.