By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---Demy Whitaker (Notre Dame Academy/Toledo, Ohio) had more steals (13) than Wayne County Community College had field goals (11) as the No. 16 Owens Community College women's basketball team rolled to an 89-27 victory in the SHAC on Wednesday.

Whitaker's steal tally broke the old single game program record of 10 held by Rashanna Johnson and Melanie Schroeder. She also continued her torrid shooting with a game-high 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting. She made seven 3-pointers for the second straight game and finished 7-for-10 from long distance.

The game, meanwhile, started with Whitaker draining two from long distance. Wayne County answered with a 3-point play before Whitaker made another 3-pointer. She would hit another 3-pointer during a stretch in which the Express opened the game on a 26-3 run.

Later, after a Teairrah Griffin jumper pulled Wayne County within 23 with 7:04 remaining in the half, Kheri Motley (West Bloomfield/West Bloomfield, Mich.) hit a jumper to start a 13-0 run for the Express that was capped by a Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio) 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 44-8 with three minutes left in the half. 

Wayne County's Carmisha Legion hit a jumper with just under two minutes left to close the scoring in the first 20 minutes as the Express led 44-10.

Legion's teammate, Dwayna Alexander, open the second half scoring with a jumper 1:25 into the half. That would be the final points, though, for Wayne County until 13:33 left in the game as Owens rallied for a 19-0 run to take a 63-12 lead. 

During that 19-0 run, Whitaker had eight points and four steals. The Express later closed the game on a 9-2 run to capture the 72 point win.

Legion finished with a team-high seven points for Wayne County, while Tunsia Howard had a game-high 10 rebounds. 

Whitaker's final line included 25 points, 13 steals, four assists, two rebounds and one block. She was assisted in the scoring line by Hughes, who had 14 points, four rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block. 

Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) also had double figures as she totaled a season-high 12 points, a team-high seven assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) had eight points. She had one of the game's most interesting stat lines as she finished 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-2 from 3-point range, but 8-for-8 from the foul line.

As a team, the Express forced 44 Wayne County turnovers. They also had a single game program record 34 steals, breaking the old mark of 33 set in 2002 and 2013.

The Express improved to 5-1 with the win, and they will be back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Delta College. Wayne County fell to 0-4 this year. 

Notes

The Express have now scored 87, 88, and 89 points in their past three games. They have also won five straight since their season opening loss, and tonight's win stretched the program's regular season home winning streak to 34.

The single game record for 3-point field goals made is 10, held by Melanie Bouchard and Angie Phegley - both achieved in 2000.

After making seven 3-pointers in each of the past two games, Whitaker is now shooting 20-for-37 (54.1 percent) from long distance this year. Two of her teammates are also shooting above 40 percent from 3-point range as Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) is 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) and LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) is 4-for-11 (40 percent).

Harley had her five game streak of scoring in double figures snapped tonight as she fell one point short.

The Express shot a season-high 85.2 (23-for-27) percent from the foul line in tonight's win.