By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---The No. 2 Owens Community College women's basketball team was awarded the No. 2 seed by the national tournament committee for next week's National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament.

Owens (31-1) will open up against No. 15 seed Union County (N.J.) College at 9 a.m. (CT) Tuesday morning. The tournament is being held at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, and the Owens-Union County game will kick off the tournament.

Union County (26-5)  qualified for the national tournament by defeated Dean College 62-57 on March 7. That win put them in the district championship game against Monroe College, where they lost 73-61. However, the champion and runner-up of the district both advance to nationals.

No. 18 Union County is led in scoring by Zhane Robinson (17.9 PPG), Ricshar Benjamin (13.6 PPG) and Shaniece Wright (10.4 PPG). Yasmine Dorrielan nearly averages double figures (9.7 PPG), as well. Dorrieland (11.9 RPG) and Wright (11.3 RPG) lead the team in rebounding. Union County is averaging 72.4 PPG as a team and enter the tournament as winners of four of their past five.

Owens, meanwhile, are winners of 31 straight. They defeated Columbus State 91-81 in the Region XII District I championship game this past Saturday, and they are averaging 85 PPG as a team. Against other national tournament qualifying teams (No. 17 Lake Michigan College, Schoolcraft College and Monroe College), Owens is 3-0. They could get a rematch with Monroe in the Elite 8, provided each team wins their first round game.

Owens is led by Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) and Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio), as well as a deep lineup. Harley leads the team in scoring (15.5 PPG) and assists (5.0 APG), while Tunstall averages 13.2 PPG and a team-high 9.3 RPG. Demy Whitaker also averages double-figures at 10.4 PPG, while LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) is at 9.0 PPG. Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio) averaged 8.8 PPG this year, but was the team's third leading scorer in conference play at 11.1 PPG.

In last weekend's district tournament, Tunstall averaged 25.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, including 31 points (20 in the second half) in the district championship win over Columbus State.

It will be the first ever meeting between Owens and Union County. The winner of the game will advance to the Elite 8 to take on the winner of No. 7 seed and No. 10 South Suburban (Ill.) College and No. 10 seed Monroe (N.Y.) College at 6 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday. The tournament semifinals and national title game will be held on Friday and Saturday.

The only common opponent for Owens and Union County is Monroe College. Owens defeated Monroe 88-76 at home on Nov. 8 in a game they didn't have sophomore guard Zhana Randolph (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.). Union County is 1-2 against Monroe this year. After a 72-70 win on Dec. 11, Monroe won 88-53 on Jan. 15 and 73-61 on March 8.

If Owens wants to win the national championship, the 16-team tournament is single-elimination. If they lose, they would fall into the consolation bracket. Should that happen, they can still place, but can't win the tournament.

This will be the second national tournament appearance in the past three seasons for Owens. In 2012-13, the team qualified as the No. 7 seed, but lost in overtime to No. 10 seed Community College of Rhode Island in the opening round. However, the team rallied to win three straight and placee seventh in the nation.

For a complete bracket, visit here

For the official tournament site, visit here

To watch all tournament games online, visit here

Notes

This will be the sixth national tournament appearance overall for Owens. They also appeared in 1997-98, 1998-99, 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2012-13). This year's No. 2 seed is the highest in program history.