By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit a driving layup with 45 seconds left to give the No. 4 Owens Community College women's basketball team a 71-69 win over No. 11 Kalamazoo Valley Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.

Owens led 69-59 with 4:16 remaining before KVCC pulled even with a 10-0 that was capped by a pair of free throws from Madeline Franks with 49 seconds left. Following a KVCC timeout, Gulley took the inbounds pass and drove the court for what turned out to be the game-winner.

KVCC missed a jumper on the ensuing possession and Owens grabbed the rebound, but KVCC forced a turnover to get another chance. Franks missed a jumper and Audrey Oswalt missed a falling shot attempt on a second chance opportunity with less than 10 seconds left. Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Dayton, Ohio) grabbed the rebound and was fouled with two seconds left. Owens then inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.

The win pushed the team's program record regular season home winning streak to 47.

Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio), who hit several clutch 3-pointers in the second half, finished with a game-high 16 points. Gulley added 14 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block.

Ingram added 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) had 11 points, five assists and three steals, and Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) had 10 points and four rebounds.

For KVCC, a key factor in the game was the foul trouble of Ka-Leah Ryan, who produced seven points early in the game, but picked up her third foul and only played seven minutes in the first half. She picked up her fourth early in the third period and sat the rest of the game.

Michaela Dekilder led KVCC with 12 points, while Jayshonna Blackshire and Daejia Hill each added 10. Kaelin Lambert tied Ingram for the game-high in rebounds with nine.

Both teams shot very well from the foul line by combining to finish 27-for-31. Owens finished 10-for-11. KVCC out-rebounded Owens 49-37, but coughed the ball up 22 times compared to just 14 for Owens, who only had four turnovers at halftime.

KVCC led 18-10 after the first period due to 10 points in the paint and five points off the bench. In the second period, though, Owens exploded for 36 points to take a 46-33 lead into halftime. In that period alone, Owens held a 22-4 advantage in paint points, a 10-2 advantage in points off turnovers, a 14-2 advantage in second chance points and a 12-4 advantage in bench points.

Furthermore, Owens shot 15-for-26 compared to just 2-for-12 for KVCC in the second period. 11 of KVCC's 15 second period points came from the foul line, and Ingram scored all 12 of her points during that stretch.

Early in the third period, back-to-back jumpers from Williams and Gulley gave Owens a pair of 18 point leads, which would be their largest leads of the game. KVCC responded by closing the half on a 17-5 run, though, and only trailed by six entering the final 10 minutes.

A 3-pointer from Williams and a jumper from Reese gave Owens two double digit leads in the first three minutes of the fourth period, and another jumper from Reese gave Owens its 10 point lead with 4:16 left before the final KVCC run.

Owens (6-2 overall) will be back in action this Saturday with another tough matchup against No. 8 Schoolcraft College at 1 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader that will feature the Owens men taking on No. 1 Schoolcraft College at 3 p.m.

KVCC dropped to 1-1 this year with the loss.

Notes

Ingram, who has two double-doubles this year, has recorded at least nine rebounds in all but one of the team's games this year.

Williams has now scored in double figures in six of the team's eight games this year. Today was her second highest scoring output of the season. Furthermore, with her 16 points tonight, she also eclipsed 300 career points and sits at 310.

Gulley has made at least one 3-pointer in seven straight games.

Bethea, who recorded her third double digit scoring effort of the season tonight, also picked up her fifth game with at least five assists and her fifth game with at least three steals.

Reese has now scored in double figures in six straight games played. She has two double-doubles this year.

Reynolds, despite only scoring two points, picked up five more assists today. She is now averaging four assists per game over the past four.