By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Palm Beach, Fla.---Demy Whitaker (Notre Dame Academy/Toledo, Ohio) and Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) each had a game-high 22 points to lead the No. 5 Owens Community College women's basketball team past Clinton Junior College 88-69 in the opener of the Palm Beach Holiday Classic today.

Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists as Owens won its 11th straight. Clinton, a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I team, fell to 4-9 this year.

Clinton produced its only lead on the game's first basket. Tunstall tied it up with a pair of free throws before each team traded a jumper. Following that, Whitaker hit the first of her six 3-pointers to give Owens the lead for good.

Tunstall followed with a lay-up and Owens eventually went on a 9-0 run to take a 13-4 lead with 15:20 left in the half.

Later, after Clinton's Sha'quila Holmes hit a lay-up to pull her team within eight with 4:28 left, Owens went on 14-2 run over the next 1:57 to take a 45-25 lead. Whitaker closed the half with a mid-range corner jumper off an assist from Harley to make it an 18-point halftime lead.

LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) started working down low in the post to open the second half as she had four points during a 9-0 run to open the final 20 minutes.

Whitaker hit a 3-pointer with 13:55 left for a 61-37 lead and another with 11 minutes left for a 28 point lead, which was the largest margin in the game. Later, Tunstall had seven points during a two minute stretch as Owens led 80-55 with 6:19 left.

Tunstall, along with her 22 points on 7-for-9 shooting, had a team-high nine rebounds. She added three assists and three steals. Whitaker finished 7-for-13 from the field, including a 6-for-12 mark from 3-point range. She also hit both of her free throws and added three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Harley went 4-for-8 from the field. Zhana Randolph (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.) added nine points and tied for the team-high in assists with five. 

Xy'Resha Isom (16), Jasmyn Burch (15), MaryAnna Moore (11) and Cahmeria Phillips (10) all hit double figures for Clinton.

Owens (11-1) will be back in action for game two of the Palm Beach Holiday Classic at 2 p.m. tomorrow against Tohono O'odham Community College.

Notes

Whitaker's 22 points is her third highest scoring output and her third 20 point effort of the season. She also hit at least six 3-pointers for the third time this year. She is shooting 46.1 percent from long range this year.

Tunstall's 22 points is two off her season-high of 24 that she set two games ago. She has hit at least seven field goals in five of the team's past six games, and she is now shooting 66.7 percent from the field this year.

Harley has now scored in double figures in all but two games this year.

Randolph's five assists tie her season-high.