By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Palm Beach, Fla.---Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) and LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) helped break open a tie game at halftime as the No. 5 Owens Community College women's basketball team defeated Palm Beach State College 89-81 in the finale of the Palm Beach Holiday Classic today.
The host team presented the best challenge of the weekend for Owens as Palm Beach featured 6'4" freshman post player LaKiah Sims, who was one of the best high school players in the state of Georgia last year. She produced nine offensive rebounds alone while posting game-highs of 33 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks.
An early run saw Owens post a 14-5 lead, and Carlisle eventually pushed the lead to 22-7 with 13:07 left on back-to-back baskets.
However, Palm Beach responded gradually. With Owens clinging to a 29-20 lead, Palm Beach went on a 12-3 run to tie the game up with 5:27 left in the half.
Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) responded with a jumper, followed by a 3-pointer from Carlisle and Owens had a 39-35 lead a couple minutes later. However, a personal foul and a technical foul allowed Palm Beach to tie it back up in one trip down the floor. Sims then closed the half with a puback lay-up to force the teams into a 41-all tie at the break.
At the half, Palm Beach was outscoring Owens 18-7 in second chance points due to a 13-7 advantage in offensive boards.
In the second half, that advantage was drastically reduced, and Owens couldn't be stopped offensivel while opening the half on an 11-0 run. During the run, Owens went 4-for-5 from the field, 2-for-2 from the 3-point line and 1-for-2 from the foul line.
Harley and Carlisle buried back-to-back 3-pointers to open the run, followed by two more field goals from Carlisle and a free throw from Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio).
Palm Beach was able to trim the deficit to as few as six, but a Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) 3-pointer eventually gave Owens its largest lead, 17, with 6:03 left. From there on, the closest Palm Beach got was eight on a final possession 3-pointer. Carlisle dribbled out the clock following that and Owens picked up its 13th straight win.
In the second half, Owens allowed Sims only four rebounds after she picked up nine in the first 20 minutes. Also, they held an 18-14 advantage in points in the paint and an 8-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Most importantly, Owens and Palm Beach each had four second chance points, a drastick improvement from the first half for the visitors.
Overall, Harley produced a team-high 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting (3-for-5 from 3-point range), while adding six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Carlisle wasn't far behind as the sophomore forward chipped in 19 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Three others also reached double figures. Williams tallied 11 points and a team-high eight assists on only one turnover, Zhana Randolph (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.) added 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Tunstall produced 10 points, a team-high five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.
As a team, Owens only turned it over 14 times and forced 19 Palm Beach cough ups. Additionally, the team finished 32-for-58 (55.2 percent) from the field, 10-for-19 (52.6 percent) from 3-point range and 15-for-21 (71.4 percent) from the foul line.
Reynolds provided a spark off the bench for Owens, as well. She totaled seven points on 3-for-6 shooting along with two assists. Harley, who had three turnovers at halftime, didn't have any turnovers in the second half.
Palm Beach, a team that plays a tough NJCAA Division I schedule, fell to 2-11 this year.
Meanwhile, Owens improved to 13-1 overall. They will be back in action on the road at Mott Community College at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 30.