By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Overland Park, Kan.---The No. 2 Owens Community College women's basketball team got big games off the bench from Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio) and LaKayra Carlisle (Pershing/Detroit, Mich.) in a 79-76 OT win over No. 5 Monroe (N.Y.) Community College tonight in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament.

With the win, the Owens women take home third place in the country, which is the best finish in program history. It is also the second best finish nationally of any women's sports team in Owens history. The team finishes the season 34-2 overall, which is the most single season wins in the program's history.

In the first half, Monroe led almost the entire way. After Owens held two leads in the first two minutes thanks to Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.), Monroe took control and led by as many as seven in the half until Owens made a late run. With 4:38 left, Monroe's Bailey Hixson hit a 3-pointer to give her team a 26-22 lead. However, Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) and Ashley Tunstall (Huber Heights Wayne/Dayton, Ohio) hit back-to-back layups to tie the game with 2:31 remaining.

Each team then traded baskets until Owens closed the half on back-to-back baskets from Williams and Tunstall to take a 32-30 lead.

Early on in the second half, it appeared as if Owens might start to pull away as they scored five of the half's first seven points to take a five point lead with 19:05 remaining. It was their largest lead of the game, though, as Monroe responded with six straight points to take the lead back.

After Tunstall initially gave Owens the lead once again, Monroe's Tyese Purvis hit a pair of free throws as Monroe took the lead back for a while. They even pushed the lead to eight on a pair of Rose Ayala free throws with 7:14 left.

However, the three point shooting of Owens came to the rescue at that point as they got four straight from Carlisle, Williams, Carlisle again and Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) to pull within two at the 4:48 mark.

Moments later, Sierra Harley (Africentric/Columbus, Ohio) tied it up at 63-all. Following that, Monroe's Hixson converted a four point play after getting fouled on a 3-point shot. Once again, though, Carlisle hit a 3-pointer to get Owens back within one.

Monroe's Kiki Bynes hit a pair of free throws and Adre'onia Coleman made a jumper following that, though, and they had Owens on the ropes with a 71-66 lead with 1:48 left.

With her team down five, Harley converted a 3-point play, which was followed by a pair of Zhana Randolph (Rochester/Rochester Hills, Mich.) free throws to tie the game at 71-all with 1:17 left. Each team had chances to win it down the stretch as Monroe missed a pair of layups with less than 10 seconds left. Briana Williams rebounded the second miss and failed to make a running jumper at the buzzer as the game went to overtime.

In the overtime, each team went back and forth for the first few minutes. With Owens holding a 77-76 lead, Monroe's Rose Ayala missed a jumper with less than 10 seconds left. Randolph rebounded, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws for a 3-point lead. After a timeout, Monroe's inbounds pass was stolen by Randolph. She passed the ball to Kyra Johnson (Stevenson/Livonia, Mich.) and Owens dribbled out the clock to secure third place.

Tunstall led Owens with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Courizma Williams (15) and Carlisle (14) added double figures off the bench. Harley added 10 points. Monroe's Coleman led all scorers with 27 points, along with 14 rebounds while Hixson had 15 and Deja Carroll had 11.

An all-tournament team will be announced later, and we will post a full tournament and season recap next week.at OwensExpress.com