Monarch guards fend off Owls

After losing their road game to Glendale College on Saturday, the Monarchs marched past Citrus by outscoring them 15-2 in the second quarter.

By Kevin Khachatryan, Staff Writer

Monarchs defenders Jacqueline Privado, Jordyn Jiron, and Emilie Bruguna create a wall to defend the Citrus Owls from scoring during the twenty-fifth game of the season of the Western state conference at Valley College on Wednesday. (Xavier Dubon | Valley Star)

The Lady Monarchs basketball team started the game strong by building up an 11-2 lead at home in the first five minutes of the game, and the presence of guards Jacqueline Privado, Leena Vo and Jordyn Jiron helped Valley College dominate Citrus College in a 21-point win.

Coming off a loss to the number 1 team in their conference, Valley women’s basketball (Western State South 10-2, Overall 18-8) hosted the Citrus College Owls on Wednesday afternoon (Western State South 4-7, Overall 8-17) to grab their third straight home win. With sophomore guards Vo and Jiron combined 44 points, the Monarchs went on a 45-25 run from the end of the second quarter to the middle of the third and never looked back as they stomped to a 72-51 win.

“We have a handful of people who are capable of scoring like that every night,” said head coach Monica Hang. “Tonight it just so happened to be Leena and Jordyn to shine the brightest.”

The Monarchs came out of the gate on a 9-0 run, starting with four points from four different players including a three-pointer from Jiron and an assist to Vo for a fast break layup. The two led the game with 22 points scored.

Citrus cut the deficit to one point with less than one minute left in the first quarter, but Monarch guards Juliet Jaramillo and Emilie Brugna each hit a three-pointer to give Valley momentum to go on a 10-0 run putting them ahead by 11.

After the score was 21-10, the Monarchs never allowed the Owls to cut the game to a single-digit game. With a layup plus the foul from Jiron, Valley extended their lead to a 12 point game and two straight layups from Vo gave the Monarchs a 17 point lead.

“We made adjustments at halftime and were able to execute them,” said Hang.

The fourth quarter saw the Monarch duo Vo and Jiron combine for 12 points. Jiron shot a perfect 100 percent from the free throw line, converting all four of her shots.

Monarchs sophomore guard Leena Vo focuses and about to attempt a free throw as monarchs teammates Jordyn Jiron and Jacqueline Privado anticipate the next moment the twenty-fifth game of the season of the Western state conference at Valley College. (Xavier Dubon | Valley Star)

Vo finished the game with 22 points and shot an efficient 76 percent from the field to go along with five rebounds.

Jiron and Vo shined as the two leading scorers of the night to help the Monarchs roll to a 72-51 victory.

Jiron finished with 22 points, scoring 15 of her points in the second half. She tallied nine assists, seven rebounds, but turned the ball over four times. Jacqueline Privado finished with 11 points while also cleaning up the boards with seven rebounds.

The Lady Monarchs will earn a trip to the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season as they will close out their final game on Feb. 17 with sophomore night.

As the season comes to an end this week, the women’s basketball team is waiting to see where they will be seeded in the playoff bracket which will be released on Feb. 19.

With the Monarch’s currently holding a 18-8 overall record, in conference they are 10-2. They are currently sitting third in conference, behind Canyons and Glendale. They are second and first respectively.

Valley is unaware of the team that they will be facing in the first round of the postseason, but their first game will be on Feb. 22.

“We are ranked in Southern California and will be playing in the postseason,” said Hang. “It’s a win or go home situation, so the goal is to do our best and win so we can advance to the next round.

The Lady Monarchs will next face West LA College on Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. in a rematch after going down to overtime and winning the game by one point.