By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Overland Park, Kan.---The No. 2 Owens Community College women's basketball team overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 18 Union County College 86-74 in the opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament at Johnson County Community College this morning.

With the win, Owens (32-1) advances to tomorrow's 8 p.m. (CT) quarterfinal against No. 10 seed Monroe College, who defeated No. 7 seed South Suburban 63-57. You can watch the game here

For nearly the game's first seven minutes, each team battled back and forth with Zhana Randolph's (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.) 3-pointer pulling Owens within one at the 13:36 mark. Later, a Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) layup pulled Owens within three with 9:04 left. At that point, however, Union County went on a 7-0 run to take a 29-19 lead with 7:06 left in the half.

Joi'Nay Carr's two free throws with 2:57 left gave Union County (26-6) its largest lead at 38-26 before Owens closed the half on a 5-2 run. 

In the first half, the Owens defense allowed Union County to shoot 16-for-32 (50 percent) from the field, while shooting just 11-for-33 overall and 2-for-12 from 3-point range on their end. The second half was a different story, however.

Williams buried a 3-pointer on the half's first possession to spur an 11-0 run that gave Owens a 42-40 lead just 2:24 into the half. During the run, Owens was 4-for-6 from the field as a team with Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio) and Demy Whitaker (Notre Dame Academy/Toledo, Ohio) each making a 3-pointer.

After Union County tied it up seconds later, a key moment in the game occurred. LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) missed a shot, but Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) cleaned it up and converted a second chance layup.

On the play, however, Union County's Yasmine Dorrielan went down with an injury. The post player came in averaging 10 points and 11.2 rebounds per game this year and had 10 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes up to that point, and she missed the rest of the game.

Aaliyah Muhammad tied the game up moments later for Union County, but Whitaker hit back-to-back 3-pointers followed by a steal and a deep pull up jumper for a personal 8-0 run to put Owens up 52-44 with 14:35 remaining.

Owens kept pushing and had a 10 point lead following a pair of Tunstall free throws with 12:08 left. Union County wasn't done, though, as they went on an 11-2 run to trim their deficit to just one with 9:59 left.

Owens responded by working it into the post for Carlisle, who scored to stop the run. Whitaker followed with another 3-pointer to put the team up six. Four straight points gave Union County hope, but that two point deficit was as close as it would get the rest of the way as a 13-0 run, led by five points from Williams, put Owens up 79-64 with 4:21 left.

Union County responded with a 6-0 run, but Owens made four straight free throws down the stretch shut down any hopes of a comeback.

In the second half, Owens shot 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from 3-point range and 18-for-34 (54.9 percent) overall. Meanwhile, Union County fell to averages of 14-for-40 (35 percent) overall and 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from 3-point range in the half.

Tunstall led the way for Owens with 25 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. The sophomore forward finished 8-for-10 from the field and 9-for-9 from the foul line. Harley nearly had a triple-double as the freshman guard tallied 18 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and one steal. She finished 8-for-14 from the field.

Whitaker scored all 17 of her points in the second half, while adding four steals and two assists in the game. The freshman guard went 6-for-11 from the field and 5-for-10 from 3-point range. She was 6-for-8 overall and 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the second half alone.

Williams was the fourth and final Owens player in double figures. Also a freshman guard, she produced 12 points and eight rebounds, while shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.

Ricshar Benjamin led Union County with 23 points.

With a win tomorrow night, the Owens women's basketball program would make its first ever apperarance in the NJCAA Final Four. They will enter the game with a 32 game winning streak.