By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Piqua, Ohio---The No. 11 Owens Community College women's basketball team pulled away in the second half, led by 20 points and 19 rebounds from Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Dayton, Ohio), to defeat Edison Community College 103-84 on the road tonight.
Ingram also added five assists, three blocks and two steals, while Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) notched a season-high 20 points, while adding four assists and three rebounds.
Both teams battled back and forth over the first six minutes before Owens closed the first quarter on a 12-1 run. During the run, Roseboro scored six points on three consecutive layups, while Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ypsilanti, Mich.) scored on a layup with 38 seconds left to give Owens a 13 point lead.
In the first quarter, Owens outscored Edison 20-2 in the paint and 16-0 in bench points.
Two Edison turnovers over the first minute of the second quarter led to seven straight points for Owens. Roseboro opened the quarter with another layup, followed by a 3-pointer from Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) and a layup from Ingram to give Owens a 32-13 lead.
Edison, led by 30 points from Brooke Hickey and 29 from Brooke Dunlevy, rallied to trim their deficit to 10 with 4:22 left, and they trailed by just four at halftime after closing the half on a 7-2 run.
In the second quarter, Edison nearly evened up Owens in the paint by scoring 10 of the quarter's 22 paint points, but Owens held a 6-0 advantage in second chance points and a 12-0 advantage in bench points.
Carly Buzzard opened the second half for Edison with a layup to pull her team within two, but it was as close as her team got the rest of the way.
Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio), who scored 19 points in the game, answered Buzzard's layup with a 3-pointer, and Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) followed with a layup to put Owens up seven.
Edison got as close as four on two occasions in the quarter's sixth minute following a pair of free throws from Hickey and a layup from Dunlevy.
From there, however, it was all Owens. Mekaila Grose (Madison/Mansfield, Ohio) hit a jumper in the paint to start a 16-0 run that put Owens up 71-51 with 1:52 left in the quarter.
During the run, Owens got points from six different players, and the run was capped by a 3-pointer from Williams. With just over a minute left, Roseboro made a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 22 before Owens took a 19 point lead into the final quarter.
Once again, the Owens bench outscored Edison 15-0 in the third quarter, along with a 9-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
Edison was able to get as close as 11 with 4:53 remaining, but Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) answered with a layup on the other end and Owens stretched the lead back to 19 twice in the final two minutes, including the final margin.
Overall, Owens scored 60 points in the paint compared to just 24 for Edison. They also outscored Edison 28-13 off turnovers, 18-2 in second chance points and 48-0 in bench points.
Ingram and Roseboro combined to shoot 17-for-26 from the field, while Roseboro finished 2-for-5 from 3-point range. The duo was also 4-for-6 from the foul line.
Gulley added 15 points, a season-high 13 assists, six steals and three rebounds. Aside from her 19 points, Williams added five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Reese, who was named the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II player of the week earlier on Wednesday, was limited to 17 minutes due to foul trouble, but recorded 10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and one steal.
Reynolds nearly reached double figures, but finished with nine, while Grose added eight.
Owens is now 13-6 overall and 5-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will travel to Clark State Community College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. non-conference matchup.
Edison fell to 4-10 overall and 1-3 in OCCAC play with the loss. Seventy three of their points came from three players as Buzzard added 14 in addition to Hickey and Dunlevy. Cadence Jacobs chipped in eight assists.
Notes
Owens has now won three straight in conference play, having reached at least 91 points in all three and averaging 103.3 points during the stretch.
Ingram's 19 rebounds marked a new season-high for the freshman forward. She has double-doubles in two of the past three games and tonight was her 10th double digit rebounding effort.
Gulley, who has reached double figures in eight straight games, eclipsed her previous season-high in assists of eight set on Jan. 6. She swiped six at least six steals for the third straight game, too.
Furthermore, Gulley broke the program's record for 3-point field goals attempted in a game tonight with 15. The previous record of 14 was held by three players, including Leslie Mugg, Dawn Spencer and Erin Bartley. All three set the mark in the 1990s, with the most recent coming in 1997.