By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Circleville, Ohio---Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) saved the No. 7 Owens Community College women's basketball team repeatedly down the stretch to help her team survive with a 71-69 win over Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in the Region XII District I championship game on Saturday.
With the win, Owens won their 16th straight game, improved to 26-6 overall and earned its second consecutive berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas, which will be played March 15-19.
It also marks the third time in program history that a sophomore class has twice earned a trip to the national tournament, with the last time coming in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Furthermore, the sophomore class earned its 60th career win, which ties last year's sophomore class for the most in a two-year span.
Owens, who defeated Cincinnati State twice in the regular season, trailed 59-54 with 9:12 remaining in the fourth quarter after a Jacie Dickerson layup.
Following a full timeout and a missed shot by each team, Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) got Owens energized with a coast to coast layup from the left side. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) swiped a pass on full court pressure, and converted a layup to pull Owens within one with just over eight minutes left.
Cincinnati State responded with Dickerson, who made one of two at the foul line, but Williams hit a jumper from the right corner following a steal from Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) to tie the game.
On the next two possessions, Aysah Ingram (Trotwood Madison/Trotwood, Ohio) and Reese made back to back layups to provide Owens a 64-60 lead with 4:19 left. Ingram's layup came after Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) drove right side and dished to her under the basket, while Reese's came on an offensive rebound and putback.
Owens got a stop via a steal by Reese on the other end, but Bethea was called for an offensive foul, and Cincinnati State took advantage as Dickerson made a layup on the other end to trim her team's deficit in half.
Bethea responded with a floater in the paint, but Cincinnati State's Tiarna Harfield, who hit several key 3-pointers throughout the game, hit a right corner shot from long range out of a timeout to trim the Owens lead to just one with 2:30 left.
Bethea answered back with a pair of free throws, but Montrail Roberts hit a jumper and Dameras Whitlock sank a pair of free throws to give Cincinnati State a 69-68 lead with 1:18 left.
Following that, Roberts had a chance to extend Cincinnati State's lead, but she missed a layup from the left side. Bethea grabbed the rebound in traffic and went coast to coast for a layup, got fouled, and drained the free throw to give Owens a 71-69 lead.
Then, the final few seconds played out in wild fashion. Gulley grabbed a steal on a bad pass from Roberts. Following a jump ball in which Owens retained possession, Williams turned the ball over with just under 10 seconds left.
Dickerson, who got the steal, attempted to outlet the pass as her head coach was trying to call a timeout, but Bethea leaped into the air and snagged the pass at midcourt. She then dribbled out the clock for the win.
Bethea, who scored the final seven points of the game for Owens, finished with a team-high 15 points, while adding eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. She finished 5-for-5 from the foul line.
Earlier in the game, Cincinnati State scored the first four points and led 9-4. Gulley and Williams answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and a back-and-forth game was underway.
Owens scored six straight points to take an 18-13 lead, but Cincinnati State tied it up in the next 30 seconds on a jumper from Kianna Delas, who scored a game-high 19 points, and a 3-pointer from Harfield.
With 6:31 left in the second quarter, Cincinnati State led 29-24, but a 3-pointer from Gulley and a layup from Bethea promptly tie the game. Owens led 37-33 with 1:20 left following a Roseboro layup, and pushed it to 39-34 after a pair of Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) free throws with 49 seconds left, but Cincinnati State finished strong and trailed by just two at halftime.
In the third quarter, another pair of free throws from Reynolds, along with a 3-pointer from Gulley, gave Owens the largest lead of the game for either team, 46-40, with 7:21 left. Cincinnati State whittled away at their deficit and eventually took a 51-50 lead with 3:18 left following two free throws from Whitlock.
Dickerson gave Cincinnati State a 57-54 lead through three following a layup in the final 10 seconds. Ingram missed a layup at the buzzer on a fast break before the wild fourth quarter.
Outside of Delas, Roberts added 13 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks, two steals and two assists for Cincinnati State, who finished its season at 22-10. Dickerson also nearly had a double-double, but finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Whitlock finished with 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.
In addition to Bethea, Reese nearly added a double-double with 13 points, nine rebounds (five offensive), four steals, two assists and two blocks. She was named the Region XII District I tournament MVP after producing 30 points and 20 rebounds in the two final four games.
Ingram was the third and final Owens player to score in double figures as she finished with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with three assists, three steals and two blocks.
Williams, who had nine points and two assists despite limited minutes due to foul trouble, had 22 points and eight assists in the tournament's two games and landed a spot on the Region XII District I All-Tournament team.
Overall, the game was very even. Owens made 23 field goals compared to 22 for Cincinnati State, while four of each of those totals came from the 3-point line for each team. Owens finished 21-for-24 from the foul line, while Cincinnati State was 21-for-27. Owens outrebounded Cincinnati State by one, but held a 22-18 on the offensive glass.
Owens shot 87.5 percent from the foul line, which was their second highest output of the season behind a 90.9 percent finish on Nov. 17 - also in a 71-69 win.
Notes
For the second straight year, Owens finished 16-0 against Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) competition, including postseason play.
Ingram's double-double was her 10th of the season.
For the fourth time in six years, Owens and Cincinnati State met in the district championship game. Cincinnati State won in 2010-11 and 2013-14, while Owens has victories in 2012-13 and now in 2015-16. Owens defeated Columbus State 91-81 in last year's championship game, and this marks the third time in four years that they have won the district championship.
After losing his first three district championship game appearances (2007-08, 2009-10 and 2010-11), Owens head coach Michael Llanas has won three of his past four championship game appearances, including two over Cincinnati State by a combined six points (69-65 in 2012-13).
This will be the seventh NJCAA Division II National Tournament appearance for Owens. They finished 7th in 1997-98, 8th in 1998-99, 6th in 2002-03, 9th in 2003-04, 7th in 2012-13 and 3rd in 2014-15.
This year's Owens team has become the seventh straight to capture at least 25 wins in a season. Over the past seven seasons, including this year, Owens has accumulated a 193-34 (.850), including an 81-9 (.900) mark in conference play, four straight OCCAC championship and five OCCAC championships in the past six years.
Gulley now has 97 steals this year. She is six away from breaking the single season record of 102 held by Elizabeth Harris since 1997-98.
Williams now has 186 assists this year and 308 in her career. She is 40 away from tying the single season record held by Dawn Spencer from 1996-97 and 21 away from tying the career mark also held by Spencer at 176.
Ingram (335) overtook Reese (333) for the team lead in rebounds today.
Gulley, who has already broken the single game attempts, single season attempts and single season makes records in terms of 3-point field goals, is now 97-for-286, which puts her three makes away from becoming the first player in program history to make 100 3-point field goals in one season.
Seeding for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament, which features 16 teams, will be announced early next week. Stay tuned to OwensExpress.com for full details once the announcement is made.