By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Westerville, Ohio---The No. 9 Owens Community College women's basketball team built a 29-4 first quarter lead before surviving a fourth quarter surge from Columbus State Community College in a 75-58 win at Otterbein University's Rike Center on Saturday.
With the win, Owens is now 20-6 overall and 11-0 in OCCAC play. They have now clinched at least a share of their fourth straight Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) championship. They can clinch the title outright with a road win over Lakeland Community College on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Brooke Pothast scored the game's opening basket for Columbus State, but Owens then reeled off 17 straight points behind a stifling defense and an unselfish offense. Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) got things started with a 3-pointer and reeled off seven points during the run.
Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) also scored six points during the run, while Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) and Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Trotwood, Ohio) also had baskets.
After Hunter Kershaw ended the run with a layup for Columbus State, Owens scored the final 12 points of the quarter. Reynolds and Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by three straight layups from Ingram and Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio).
Columbus State's offense started to wake up in the second quarter, but Owens produced a 3-pointer from Bethea and a pair of free throws from Kyra Johnson (Stevenson/Livonia, Mich.) to push the lead to 27 with 1:08 left, which would be their largest of the half.
Kershaw finished the half with a layup to give her a team-high eight points, while Carli Codner-Pinto had six. Columbus State and Owens each scored 14 points in the second quarter.
Reynolds converted a pair of free throws with 6:24 left in the third quarter, which gave Owens a 47-18 lead. After a Codner-Pinto 3-pointer, Owens reeled off eight straight points, capped by a driving layup on the left side from Roseboro, for their largest lead of the game at 55-21 with 3:42 left.
Codner-Pinto then started to catch fire. She scored seven straight points, followed by four more from Kershaw, although Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit a 3-pointer before the buzzer to give Owens a 62-32 lead heading to the fourth.
In the fourth, Columbus State slowly started to chip away at their deficit, largely behind the efforts of Codner-Pinto, and outscored Owens 26-13 in the quarter. In the first six minutes, she produced 14 points on a layup, two jumpers, a 3-pointer and five free throws to pull her team within 12 with 2:43 left.
Codner-Pinto had a chance to pull her team within single digits, but missed on a 3-pointer. On the other end, Williams hit a pull up jumper in the paint to quiet the momentum. Despite a free throw from Keyvona Davis on the other end, Owens scored five of the final six points in the game, which included the final point on a free throw from Mekaila Grose (Madison/Mansfield, Ohio).
Codner-Pinto finished 7-for-11 from the field, including a 2-for-6 finish from 3-point range, for 24 points in the second half. She also made 8-for-9 from the foul line in 16 minutes of play.
Gulley's 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter was the only long ball of the half for Owens, who finished 1-for-10 in the half from 3-point range.
Owens was led in scoring by Reese, Reynolds and Roseboro, who had 12 points apiece. Gulley chipped in 10 points, while Reese added a game-high 18 rebounds (six offensive). Ingram, Williams and Bethea each added eight points, while Ingram had 11 rebounds. Bethea led the team in steals with four, and contributed three assists, as well. Williams had a team-high seven assists.
Codner-Pinto finished with 30 points, while Kershaw added 13 points. Davis led Columbus State in rebounds and blocks with 10 and three, and Haley Gerten had five assists and five steals.
As a team, Owens held scoring advantages in the paint (44-26), off turnovers (22-13) and in second chance opportunities (21-7). Columbus State's bench, behind Codner-Pinto, outscored Owens 38-33.
Columbus State fell to 12-13 overall and 7-6 in OCCAC play with the loss.
Notes
Owens has now won 10 straight games. They haven't lost since Dec. 30. Following Wednesday's road game, they will close out their home slate with games against Clark State Community College next Saturday and Lakeland Community College on the 24th.
Owens has now won at least 20 games 18 times since 1994-95. They also have four regular season games, plus the postseason, in an attempt to win at least 25 games for the seventh straight season. Over the past six plus seasons, including this year, they have accumulated a 187-36 record.
Since a 73-67 loss on the road to Columbus State on Feb. 1, 2014, Owens has reeled off 32 consecutive conference wins in regular season play. Among those 32 games, they have reached the century mark 10 times.
With her 2-for-9 performance yesterday, Gulley broke the program's single season 3-point field goal attempts record. She now has 237, which breaks Erin Barley's record of 232 from 1996-97. Furthermore, she is four made 3-pointers away from breaking that record held by Bartley and Dawn Spencer, who each had 85 in 1996-97. In terms of a single game, Gulley already holds the record for most attempts in one game with 15, which she set on Jan. 13 at Edison Community College and broke the previous record held by three players - all from 1995-97.
Furthermore, Gulley now has 80 steals, which is 23 away from breaking the single season record held by Elizabeth Harris (102, 1997-98). Bethea, who missed 11 games due to injury, would also be on pace to break the record had it not been for her injury.
Williams, who had seven more assists yesterday, now has 151 assists this year and 273 in her career. The record for a single season is 226, by Spencer in 1996-97, and the career mark is 329, held by Spencer from 1995-97.
Reese, a freshman forward, now has 275 rebounds, while Ingram, a freshman center, has 281 rebounds. Both players have an outside shot at the single season rebounding record of 411, held by Tammy Murphy (1997-98).
Reynolds now has 487 career points, just 13 away from joining Williams with 500 career points in the sophomore class. She also leads the team in 3-point field goal percentage at 38.3 percent, which is almost 10 percent better than her percentage from last season.
In addition to their four straight league championships, Owens has also won five of the past six league championships.
In conference play, Owens has now held their opponents to single digits in a quarter 10 times this year.