By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Benton Harbor, Mich.---Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) led a torrid offensive effort for the No. 5 Owens Community College women's basketball in a 91-67 road win over Lake Michigan College this afternoon.
Despite not playing since Dec. 3, Owens finished 36-for-71 (50.7 percent) from the field, including an 11-for-19 (57.9 percent) performance from 3-point range.
Lake Michigan started the game strong and jumped out to 9-4 and 11-5 leads over the first five minutes. However, Harley buried a 3-pointer to begin a 9-0 run after the second six point lead. Demy Whitaker (Notre Dame Academy/Toledo, Ohio) hit a mid-range transition jumper to cap the run and give Owens a 14-11 lead with just under 12 minutes left in the first half.
Lake Michigan's Madison Cameron later hit a 3-pointer to pull her team within two with 7:59 left in the half. Whitaker responded with back-to-back 3-pointers of her own to give Owens a 24-16 lead. With an eight point lead and less than a minute left in the half, Whitaker hit another 3-pointer to give Owens a 37-26 lead at the break.
The second half opened with a flurry of scoring by both teams. In the first three plus minutes, the teams combined for 19 points, but Owens remained in control with a 47-35 lead. Following that, LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) hit a 3-pointer and Lake Michigan's head coach Jason Cooper was hit with a technical moments later. From that point on, Owens dominated.
In fact, Carlisle's three started a 18-5 run that opened up a 65-40 lead with 11:55 left. Harley capped the run with a lay-up. Later, with just under eight minutes left, Whitaker hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to give Owens a 28-point lead. The closest Lake Michigan got down the stretch was 18.
Harley finished with a game-high 20 points. She also tied Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) for the game-high in assists with six. Moreover, she had two steals and one rebound.
Whitaker added 16 points off the bench. She finished 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) and Carlisle gave Owens four double figure scorers with 15 and 11, respectively. Kheri Motley (West Bloomfield/West Bloomfield, Mich.) added a team-high seven rebounds.
Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio) buried a trio of 3-pointers from the bench to finish with nine points, as well. The trio of Harley, Tunstall and Whitaker combined to shoot 21-for-26 from the field and 6-for-8 from 3-point range.
Sabrina Trujillo (13), Nicole Decker (12) and Christy Gonzalez (10) all scored in double figures for Lake Michigan (6-3).
With the win, Owens won its 10th straight and improved to 10-1 this year. They will be back in action with a 3-game road trip to Palm Beach, Fla. Dec. 19-21. They will take on Clinton Junior College, Tohono O'odham Community College and Palm Beach State College during the trip.