By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Overland Park, Kansas---The No. 5 Owens Community College women's basketball team saw its offense sputter in the second quarter before falling 78-64 to No. 4 Kansas City Kansas Community College in a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II quarterfinal tonight.
With the loss, Owens (27-7) drops into the consolation bracket to take on No. 10 North Arkansas College (25-6) at 4 p.m. ET tomorrow in a fifth/sixth place semifinal. Should Owens win, they would play No. 7 Cape Fear Community College for fifth place at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Early on, Owens scored seven of the game's first nine points via a layup from Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio), a short jumper from Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ypsilanti, Mich.) and a 3-pointer from Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Mich.).
For Kansas City Kansas, however, Arrica Daye drained a 3-pointer and scored five straight points to start a 15-0 run that gave her team a 17-7 lead with 2:51 left in the first quarter.
Owens answered right back with an 11-0 run, capped by a pair of free throws from Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) and a jumper from Ward to take an 18-17 lead in the final minute. Cheyenne North, who finished with 20 points and 19 rebounds for Kansas City Kansas, answered before the buzzer to give her team a one point lead through 10 minutes.
Owens failed to get any points on their first three possessions of the second quarter before North hit a jumper for a three point lead.
Midway through the quarter, Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) hit a 3-pointer, which was followed by a jumper from Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) to keep Owens within three. Moments later, Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Trotwood, Ohio) hit a free throw to make it a three point game, once again.
However, Kansas City Kansas closed the half on a 9-0 run as Owens finished the final four minutes 0-for-5 from the field with five turnovers. That run would ultimately doom Owens as they couldn't quite fully respond from it.
Reese and Ward hit back-to-back jumpers to open the second half. Then, Gulley drained a 3-pointer that would have pulled Owens within five, but it was called off due to a three second violation. Kansas City Kansas responded with six straight points, capped by a layup from North to open up a 45-32 lead.
With 3:37 left in the third quarter, Brianna Tauai hit a 3-pointer to stretch her team's lead to 15. The lead was 13 with 1:21 left following a North jumper, but Owens trimmed the deficit to eight entering the fourth.
Mekaila Grose (Madison/Mansfield, Ohio) hit a putback layup, followed by a 3-pointer from Gulley to pull Owens within five with 5:48 left. Moments later, Reese hit a jumper to answerd a layup from Brooklyn Wagler, but Daye hit a 3-pointer with 4:32 left to give Kansas City Kansas a 70-62 lead, and then her team closed the game on a 5-0 run to cap the win.
With the victory, Kansas City Kansas (31-3) advances to tomorrow's national semifinal against Monroe Community College at 9 p.m. ET.
For the second straight game, Owens was doomed by phenomenal 3-point shooting from their opponent. After Dean College went 9-for-21 yesterday, Kansas City Kansas went 10-for-23 as a team.
Aside from North's 20 points, 19 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks, Kansas City Kansas got 18 points from Wagler, 11 from Daye and 10 apiece from Sierra Roberts and Tauai.
Owens was led by Reese, who had 16 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Ingram added 13 points, Gulley had nine and Ward had eight. Williams chipped in eight assists.
Notes
Tonight's national quarterfinal appearance marked the second consecutive year in which Owens reached at least that round. Last year's team made the semifinals before losing and finishing third. This year's team still has a chance to finish fifth, which would give the program the best two finishes in program history in back-to-back seasons.