COC Gets First Conference Win

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - College of the Canyons women's basketball team held off a late scoring run by visiting Citrus College after building up a 16-point first half lead to win its conference home opener, 72-65.

College of the Canyons fell behind by as many as eight in the early minutes of the first half, but tied the game at 16-all with a Joslynn Frazier jumper at the 8:02 mark. The score from Frazier started a COC run that would last until the end of the half that saw the Cougars out score the Owls 20-4, for a 36-20 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.

Citrus came back in the second half to tie it up at 42 and the Cougars and Owls battled back and forth before the Cougars opened up a 10-point lead, 57-47, at the 8:01 mark of the second half.

A late surge by the Owls in the final minutes of the half took the COC lead down to four, 67-63, after a Krystyn Jacobs layup, but COC throws down the stretch sealed the win.

College of the Canyons Ashley Wakefield led all scorers with 24 points and 15 rebounds after going 9-of-10 from the field. Charity Smith also tallied a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. For Citrus, Shateah West recorded her own double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. COC improves to 12-8, 1-0 in conference, and Citrus College drops to 14-7, 0-1 in conference.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday, Jan. 10 as they travel to Bakersfield College at 7 p.m.