By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Columbus, Ohio---Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) flirted with a triple-double, and Kheri Motley (West Bloomfield/West Bloomfield, Mich.) added a double-double as the No. 3 Owens Community College women's basketball team survived a battle on the road against Columbus State Community College to pick up a 69-66 win.
In the first half, Owens trailed 37-22 with a few minutes left, but closed the half on a 14-2 run to set up a back-and-forth second half.
Later, with the game tied at 60 and 2:51 remaining, Columbus State's Erinn Bailey missed a pair of free throws that could have given her team the lead. Owens responded with a 7-0 run to seize control, but winning wasn't easy.
Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) started the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing. After a travel by Columbus State, Motley followed with a driving layup from the right side for a five point lead. On the other end, Columbus State missed a driving layup, and Harley hit a pair of free throws.
Columbus State followed by getting a pair of free throws, a steal and a fast break layup from Bailey. Then, they forced another turnover, but didn't make the shot on the other end. Owens rebounded and got fouled, but Motley missed a pair of free throws. Down three, Breyonia Hearn missed a layup for Columbus State with nine seconds left, Motley rebounded, was fouled, and she hit both free throws to seal the game.
Harley, who had 17 points in the first half, finished 9-for-16 from the field for a season-high 25 points. She added nine rebounds and nine assists. Motley finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Cheyenne Bryant (Central Catholic/Cleveland, Ohio), who came up big early in the second half, totaled seven points and five rebounds on 3-for-5 shooting. She led the bench players in scoring.
Additionally, despite finishing just 1-for-4 from the field for two points, Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) added 10 rebounds. It is her ninth double digit rebounding game this year and her fourth in five conference games.
Bailey had a team-high 18 points for Columbus State, while Bridget Geiger added 12.
With today's result, Owens has now won 20 straight games and are 20-1 overall heading into Wednesday's road game at Lorain County Community College. They are also alone in first place in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play with a 5-0 record.
Columbus State falls to 12-3 overall and 3-2 in OCCAC play.
Notes
Today's was Harley's seventh game this year of 20 or more points. She eclipsed her previous season-high in scoring by a point.
Last year, on their home court, Columbus State ended an 18-game winning streak for Owens, so today was a small measure of revenge.