By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College men's and women's basketball teams will travel to Piqua, Ohio tomorrow to take on Edison Community College. Each team will look to remain on quest for at least a share of a conference championship.
The No. 6 Express women will tip things off at 5:30 p.m. looking to avenge last year's 76-68 loss at Edison on Jan. 30. The Chargers are 15-5 overall and 6-3 in OCCAC play. The two teams met earlier this year at Owens, with the Express winning 80-57 on Jan. 29.
In that January matchup against Edison, the Express had four players score in double figures, led by Kamilah Carter (Pioneer/Ann Arbor, Mich.) with 19 points. Paige Wright (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) added a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) had 13 points and nine rebounds. Eboni Adams (Maple Heights/Cleveland, Ohio) was second on the team in scoring with 15 points.
The Chargers were led by their leading scorer, Brooke Richards, who had 23 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals. She finished 8-for-24 from the field, 1-for-4 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the foul line.
Along with Richards, the Chargers are also led by their second leading scorer, Tori Purk, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the last matchup against the Express.
With a win, the Express would decrease their magic number to one for clinching at least a share of the OCCAC championship. The Express currently sit two games up in the loss column on second place Edison and Cincinnati State. The second through fifth spot in the conference standings are a close race. Behind the Express (7-1) are Cincinnati State (7-3), Edison (6-3), Sinclair Community College (5-4) and Columbus State (4-4).
A key storyline to watch for the Express, aside from the conference championship chase, is the scoring of Carter, who moved into the top 15 in single season scoring in Owens women's basketball history in the team's last game against Cincinnati State. If she produces her 21 point average in OCCAC play tomorrow, she would pass Bridget Buss and Aja Hall and move into 13th place. She needs 53 points to move into 10th place.
The No. 8 Express men, meanwhile, will look to bounce back from Saturday's loss to No. 2 Cincinnati State Technical and Community College on the road. With the loss, the Express had their eight game winning streak snapped and fell into a first place tie in the loss column with Cincinnati State.
Individually, the Express will look to get guards John Murry (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) and Shaakir Lindsey (Teaneck/Teaneck, N.J.) back on track. The duo struggled in Saturday's loss, combining for 10 points. The duo came into the game averaging 36 points combined per game in OCCAC play.
The Express defeated Edison 100-87 at home on Jan. 29 behind Murry's 26 points. Bikramjit Gill (Our Ascension of the Lord/Toronto, Ontario, Canada) added 15 points, Markese Allen (Crockett/Detroit, Mich.) had 11 points and Edmond Early Jr. (Thurgood Marshall/Dayton, Ohio) had 10 points. Lindsey nearly had a double-double with nine points and 10 assists.
Gill, who had another solid game with 14 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks against Cincinnati State, will look for his fifth straight double-double and seventh double-double in eight conference games played tomorrow.
Lindsey, who had eight assists despite his three point game against Cincinnati State, will look for his third game of double figure assists since Feb. 8.
The Express are 20-5 overall and 7-1 in OCCAC play with four games remaining. They are tied with Cincinnati State (23-3, 9-1 OCCAC) with four games left, while the Surge have two games left. Should both teams win out, they would share the OCCAC championship, while the top seed in the district tournament would come down to a coin flip since the teams would be deadlocked in other tiebreakers.
Stay tuned to OwensExpress.com for full recaps and postgame video tomorrow evening. We will post box scores at OwensExpress.com immediately following each game, as well. You can also find live game updates on our Twitter page (@owensexpress).