Women’s Basketball: Rio Hondo comes up short in OT loss at Canyons

Amanda Lee scored a team-high 23 points while Christina Hilton added 13 points and 8 rebounds for Rio Hondo College in a tough 76-71 overtime loss at College of the Canyons on Friday in an opening-round game of the Crossover Challenge tournament.

Rio Hondo held late leads in the fourth quarter and overtime period but couldn't put away the host Cougars.

With 50 seconds left in the fourth, Amy Navarro made 1 of 2 free throws to extend the Roadrunners' lead to 66-64. 10 seconds later, Canyons' Alexis Orellana tied up the game with a layup. With one final chance to win, Candace Black's shot at the buzzer rimmed out, leading to overtime.

Rio Hondo got off to a fast start in the OT and was up 71-68 with 1:52 to play after Black's layup. But the Roadrunners would fail to score again. Canyons closed the contest with an 8-0 run to secure its win.

Four Roadrunners scored in double figures. Joining Lee and Hilton were Kailey Gutierrez with 13 points and Black with 12 points. Navarro grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds to go with 6 points.

The loss dropped Rio Hondo to 11-7 overall. The Roadrunners resume tournament action on Wednesday (Jan. 9) when they will face Long Beach City College. Game time and site are TBA.