By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Overland Park, Kan.---Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) and Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) each scored 16 points to lead the No. 5 Owens Community College women's basketball team to a 79-65 win over No. 10 North Arkansas College in the consolation round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament this afternoon.

With the win, Owens improves to 28-7 overall. They will take on No. 7 Cape Fear Community College at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow for fifth place.

From the start, Owens produced well offensively. However, so did North Arkansas, as the visitors on the scoreboard scored the game's first basket and held leads of 11-9 and 13-11, with the last lead coming after a Sydnee Garrett jumper with 3:43 left in the first.

At that point, the Owens defense clamped down, and Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) scored eight straight points to give Owens a 19-13 lead through one. The run started with Gulley burying a 3-pointer off a pass from Bethea. Gulley then brought the ball up the court following a North Arkansas miss and hit a pull up 3-pointer. She capped the run with a fast break layup via a steal and assist from Kyra Johnson (Stevenson/Livonia, Mich.).

In the second quarter, Owens took its first double digit lead on a jumper from Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ypsilanti, Mich.). Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) followed with a 3-pointer, and Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Trotwood, Ohio) hit a layup for a 16 point lead with 6:18 left in the half.

North Arkansas was able to trim its deficit to 11 with a 7-2 run late, but Owens closed the half on a 5-0 run that featured all five points from Bethea, who scored three of the points at the foul line.

In the first half, Owens shot 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from the field, which included a 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) performance from 3-point range. They also made 5-for-5 from the foul line and outscored North Arkansas 9-0 in points off turnovers.

Roseboro's second 3-pointer pushed the Owens lead to 23 with 4:55 left in the third. A pair of free throws from Reese with 1:04 left then pushed the lead to as many as 24 before North Arkansas got a layup from Jolene Shipps to close the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, North Arkansas went on a run and trimmed its deficit to 14 with 6:25 left. Bethea, however, notched six straight points over a one minute stretch to give Owens a 72-52 lead and essentially seal the game.

North Arkansas responded and cut its deficit to 12, but never really threatened Owens, who made 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final minute to seal the game.

Aside from Reese and Bethea, Owens got 11 points apiece from Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) and Gulley, along with 10 from Ingram. Reese also led the team with nine rebounds, while Ward added seven. Williams had a team-high five assists, and Gulley added four. Ingram had three blocks. Bethea had three steals.

North Arkansas (25-7) was led by Shipps, who had 21 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Cara Barrett also had 21 points and four steals, while Garrett chipped in 12 points and 12 rebounds. Taylor Tate also had 11 points and three assists, while Skylar Johnson added 10 rebounds.

North Arkansas only had four players score in the game, and that led to the Owens bench having a 34-0 advantage in scoring. They also out-produced North Arkansas 16-7 in points off turnovers and 32-22 in points in the paint.

Notes

This is the third national tournament appearance for Owens in the past four years. In 2012-13, the team went 3-1 and finished in seventh place. Last year's team also went 3-1 and finished third. If tomorrow's game is won by Owens, the program would have its three best finishes in the 16-team format in program history in a four year stretch.

Gulley, with her two steals today, tied the program's single season record of 102 - also held by Elizabeth Harris, who set the mark in 1997-98.

Williams also has a chance at history in tomorrow's game. She is five assists short of tying the career assist record of 329 also held by Harris. Williams is also currently 28th on the career scoring list with 638.

Tatyana Reynolds (Rogers/Toledo, Ohio) is currently 36th in career scoring with 547 points.