By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Circleville, Ohio---The No. 7 Owens Community College women's basketball team upended Columbus State Community College 79-55 in a Region XII District I semifinal at Ohio Christian University this afternoon.
With the victory, Owens improves to 25-6 overall and picks up their 15th straight win. They will take on Cincinnati State Technical and Community College for the championship at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
Offensively, Owens got things going early with back-to-back 3-pointers from Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.), who went on to finish 5-for-11 from 3-point range in the game.
With the score at 14-9, Owens went on a 7-0 run that included a pair of layups from Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Trotwood, Ohio), along with another 3-pointer from Gulley to open up a 21-9 lead with 1:59 left in the first quarter.
Owens then closed the quarter on a 5-0 run via Gulley's fourth 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Ingram to open up a 14-point lead.
In the second quarter, Owens produced a 15-2 run at the end to take a 43-18 lead into the half. The run included 15 straight points before Columbus State's Carli Codner-Pinto made a pair of free throws with six seconds left.
Columbus State scored seven straight points to begin the second half, but Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) answered with a three point play, and Owens responded with a 7-0 run and went up 50-25 with 5:52 left. Later, a Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) layup gave Owens a 62-36 lead before Columbus State scored the final three points of the quarter.
The closest Columbus State got in the fourth quarter was 19 on a pair of free throws from Codner-Pinto with 2:06 left, although Owens held its largest lead at 27 with 32 seconds left in the game following a 3-pointer from Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio).
Codner-Pinto led all players with 23 points, but she finished just 5-for-18 from the field. Twelve of her points came in the fourth quarter. The freshman guard was 11-for-11 from the free throw line. Her teammate, Keyvona Davis, chipped in nine points and 12 rebounds.
Columbus State, who lost to Owens in last year's championship game, finishes this year at 13-16 overall.
For Owens, Reese and Gulley each produced a team-high 17 points. Reese also had 11 rebounds and two blocks, while Gulley added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Williams was the third player in double figure scoring with 13 points, and she tied Bethea for the team-high in assists with six.
Mekaila Grose (Madison/Mansfield, Ohio) had a team-high four steals, along with seven rebounds.
The Owens bench outscored Columbus State 22-8, while Owens also held advantages in paint points (44-20), points off turnovers (29-17) and second chance points (17-9).
Notes
This will be the fourth time in six years that Owens has met Cincinnati State in the District I championship.