By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Lake Worth, Fla.---Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Dayton, Ohio) and Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) combined for 27 points, but the No. 7 Owens Community College women's basketball team dropped a 51-47 decision to Palm Beach State College in the finale of the Palm Beach New Year's Basketball Bash this afternoon.

Owens led 47-46 with 4:07 remaining following a driving layup from Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio), but Palm Beach closed the game on a 5-0 run with all of those points coming from the foul line.

With just under 30 seconds left, Palm Beach's Kerry Watson missed a layup that could have put her team up three. Owens rebounded the basketball, but a pass by Williams to Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) went out of bounds.

Owens then had another chance with 11 seconds left. Watson missed a pair of free throws with her team up 49-47, and Ingram grabbed the rebound. Palm Beach was able to wrestle the ball away, however, and Christal Williams hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to seal the game.

Early on, a pair of 3-pointers from Gulley gave Owens a 13-11 lead through one. Williams had hit a jumper to put Owens up five late in the quarter, but Williams drained a 3-pointer for Palm Beach in the final seconds. The quarter featured two ties and one lead change, and Owens outscored Palm Beach 5-2 in points off turnovers.

In the second quarter, Palm Beach's sophomore center, Lakiah Sims, who had 33 points and 17 rebounds in a matchup between the two teams last year, converted a jumper with 5:02 left to give her team a 21-17 lead.

Two minutes later, Watson converted a 3-point play to give Palm Beach another four point lead. At that point, however, Gulley drained a 3-pointer and Kyra Johnson (Stevenson/Livonia, Mich.) hit a mid-range jumper from the right wing to give Owens a 25-24 lead with 1:57 left.

A back-and-forth final two minutes that included a 3-pointer from Gulley off an offensive rebound with 26 seconds left ended in a jumper from Watson at the buzzer to send the teams into the locker room all knotted at 28.

Ingram opened the third quarter with a second chance layup before Palm Beach scored eight straight points to take a 36-30 lead with 7:16 left. The Owens defense, however, held Palm Beach scoreless the rest of the quarter and took a 41-36 lead through three.

Palm Beach scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to produce the game's seventh tie and neither team led by more than a point until the final 30 seconds when Palm Beach iced the game at the foul line.

Ingram, who had eight of her team's 13 points in the third quarter, finished with a game-high 15 points, along with 12 rebounds, a team-high three assists, one block and one steal. She finished 5-for-7 from the foul line and was the only Owens player to attempt a free throw in the game.

Gulley added 12 points, all in the first half, and finished 4-for-8 from 3-point range. She added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Williams was the third Owens player in double figure scoring with 11, while adding six rebounds, one assist and one steal. She had four of her team's six points in the fourth quarter.

Sims finished with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Palm Beach in 25 minutes of action after being limited due to first half foul trouble. She was the lone Palm Beach player in double figures.

Palm Beach is now 9-5 overall this year.

Owens is now 10-6 and will resume conference play next Wednesday at Lorain County Community College.

Notes

Ingram's double-double was her fifth of the season.

Today's game featured eight ties and 14 lead changes.

Palm Beach (14-for-21) attempted three times as many free throws as Owens (5-for-7), and all of the Owens free throws came in the first half.