By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) nearly produced her second straight 20-20 game, but settled for leading the No. 11 Owens Community College women's basketball team to a dominating 91-62 win over Columbus State Community College in a first place showdown in the SHAC today.
With the win, Owens improves to 12-6 overall and 4-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. It was their 25th straight regular season conference win. Columbus State falls to 6-8 overall and 3-1 in OCCAC play.
In the opening minutes, Columbus State scored the first four points, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Carli Codner-Pinto off the opening tip. Owens, however, scored 17 of the next 20 points to open up a 17-7 lead with 4:49 left in the first quarter.
The run was capped by three straight 3-pointers, two from Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) and one from Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.).
With 2:20 left, Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) hit her second and the team's fifth 3-pointer of the quarter to give Owens a 22-10 lead. Down the stretch, Columbus State was able to trim their deficit to six, but Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) hit a jumper to give Owens a 26-18 lead through one.
Columbus State's Faryn Buchanan hit a layup to open the second quarter, but Gulley drained a 3-pointer in response and Williams followed with a jumper to push the lead to 11. Owens led by double digits the rest of the way.
Over a three and a half minute stretch late in the quarter, Reese and Mekaila Grose (Madison/Mansfield, Ohio) combined to score 10 straight points to give Owens a 20 point lead with 40 seconds left.
Codner-Pinto responded with five straight points for Columbus State, but Gulley banked in a fast break jumper off the glass with less than 10 seconds left to give Owens an 18 point lead at halftime.
Once again, Codner-Pinto led her team's offense to open the third quarter. The guard scored seven points early as Columbus State trimmed their deficit to 12 over the first 2:20.
Williams answered with a 3-pointer for Owens, followed by a layup from Roseboro to stem the run. From there, Owens stretched the lead and took a 71-49 lead into the fourth following a layup from Roseboro with 31 seconds left.
In the fourth, Owens never led by fewer than 20 points. Kyra Johnson (Stevenson/Livonia, Mich.) hit a jumper from the right wing to make it 80-53 with 7:58 left, and Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ypsilanti, Mich.) hit a second chance layup with 4:54 left to bump the lead to 30.
Aysah Ingram (Trotwood/Madison/Dayton, Ohio) converted 1-for-2 at the free throw line with 2:43 left to give Owens its largest lead, 89-58, for the first time. Reynolds hit a layup with 19 seconds left for the second 31 point lead and the final margin.
Reese, who finished 7-for-17 from the field, had a team-high 16 points and a game-high 19 rebounds (five offensive). Grose also produced a double-double with a season-high 11 points, a season-high 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a game-high four blocks in just 17 minutes. She finished 4-for-5 from the field.
Reynolds tied Reese for the team-high in scoring with 16, while adding six rebounds and four assists. Gulley contributed 12 points, four assists and a game-high seven steals.
Williams totaled 11 points, five rebounds, a game-high eight assists and two steals, and Ingram nearly had a double-double in just 13 minutes of action due to foul trouble before finishing with nine points, 13 rebounds and two assists.
Owens picked up the dominant win despite making just two 3-pointers following the first quarter and converting just 10-for-28 from the foul line. Columbus State helped out by finishing 19-for-37 from the foul line.
For the second straight game, Owens finished with at least 70 rebounds (71). It was also their fifth game with at least 60 rebounds. Individually, Ingram notched her fifth double digit rebounding game in her past six contests.
Columbus State was led by Codner-Pinto, who totaled a game-high 22 points. Hunter Kershaw added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, Owens held advantages in paint points (46-32), points off turnovers (28-19), second chance points (17-4) and bench points (32-10). The game featured just one tie and two lead changes.
Owens will be back in action on Wednesday at Edison Community College beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Notes
Williams, with her eight assists, averaged 9.5 assists over the team's two games this week following her career-high 11 on Wednesday.
Ingram now has nine games with at least 10 rebounds and 13 games with at least nine rebounds this year. She is averaging a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game.
With her 16 points today, Reese totaled 40 points and 40 rebounds in two games this week.
Gulley not only picked up her seventh straight double digit scoring effort, but she is averaging 4.5 assists per game over the past six contests. Today's total was a season-high.