By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---The No. 3 Owens Community College women's basketball team made a statement with an 86-51 win over Cuyahoga Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) on Wednesday.

Cuyahoga (9-3, 1-1 OCCAC) entered the game as one of the teams expected to challenge Owens for a conference championship this season, but Owens (9-0, 1-0 OCCAC) remained undefeated to open the season and are now two wins away from matching the program record for best start to a season, which is currently held by the 2010-11 team.

With the victory, Owens has also now won 23 straight regular season games dating back to Jan. 6 of last year, and they extended the program's regular season conference winning streak to 35. Additionally, they are now 63-1 at home since February of 2012, and they have now won 40 straight over Cuyahoga dating back to 1996. They are 45-3 all-time against Cuyahoga, which includes a 25-1 record at home.

Game Summary

Cuyahoga started strong by scoring eight of the game's first 12 points, and Darian Carter's three point play gave her team an 11-6 lead with 6:49 left in the first quarter. Carter scored seven of her team's 11 points during that stretch.

Two minutes later, Cuyahoga's Shannise Dillard made a layup to make it 14-11, but a free throw from Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) and a jumper from Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) tied the game. One possession later, Kamryn Troike (St. Wendelin/Fostoria, Ohio) made a layup to give Owens a two-point lead, which was her team's first lead since the game's opening basket.

Cuyahoga's Ebony Young hit a short jumper with just under three minutes left in the quarter to tie it up, but Owens answered with a 10-0 run. Troike and Brenda Pennington (Bishop Noll/Hammond, Ind.) split four free throws to start the run, and then Cuyahoga's head coach was hit for a technical for illegally touching a live ball, and Essence Cowan (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) made both free throws.

Cowan added a 3-pointer two possessions later, and then made one of two at the foul line to complete the run. Dillard closed the quarter with a pair of free throws as Owens led by eight.

Kaylah Ivey (Westerville South/Westerville, Ohio) and Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) each scored a basket to open the second quarter, and Bethea followed with a jumper and a layup as Owens opened on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 34-18 just two minutes into the quarter.

A jumper from Troike pushed the lead to 17 five minutes later, and Pennington scored the final three points of the half as Owens took a 45-18 lead into the break. 

Cowan buried a 3-pointer from the left corner just five seconds into the third quarter as Owens went on a 13-2 run over the first 2:13. Roseboro had seven points during the stretch, which forced Cuyahoga to call a timeout. Two possessions after the timeout, Cowan hit another 3-pointer to give Owens a 30 point lead for the first time.

The offense stalled a bit over the next few minutes until Bethea and Troike scored all five points during a 5-0 run as Owens led 67-36 with 4:07 left. Bethea continued her solid play with a layup a minute and a half later that spurred a 6-0 run. Haley Pickard (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio), who was playing in front of her former high school teammates, and Haili Mossing (Evergreen/Metamora, Ohio) each made shots to end the run and give Owens a 73-37 lead with 1:11 left in the quarter.

Pickard added a pair of free throws before the end of the quarter to give Owens a 35 point lead.

Both offenses struggled to open the fourth quarter as the teams combined for just 14 points over the first six and a half minutes, although a layup from Bethea gave Owens a 41 point lead with 2:04 left. Cuyahoga closed the game on a 6-0 run to minimize the damage a bit.

For Cuyahoga, Carter had a team-high 17 points, although the Owens defense held her to a 5-for-25 shooting performance, including a 1-for-8 finish from 3-point range. She made 6-for-10 from the foul line and tied her teammates Daesia Avery and Tanesha McClure for the team-high in rebounds with eight. Avery also had 11 points off the bench as only two players reached double figures for Cuyahoga, who finished just 2-for-16 from 3-point range and 11-for-24 from the foul line as a team.

Meanwhile, Owens had four players score in double figures, led by 16 points and 13 rebounds from Reese, who also had four blocks. Bethea added 15 points, six steals and three blocks off the bench, while Cowan and Troike each chipped in 12 points. Troike also had seven rebounds (three offensive) and four blocks, and her scoring output was a season-high. She is shooting 12-for-17 from the field over the past four games.

Ivey finished just 2-for-7 from the field, but had six points, nine rebounds and a team-high six blocks. In fact, Owens blocked 17 shots as a team, which is a season-high. In fact, it was just the second time this season they reached double digits in blocks, and it was actually the same amount of blocks the team had over the first five games this year combined. 

Next Up

Owens will continue conference play on Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup against No. 20 Sinclair Community College, who is also looking to knock off Owens after starting the season 10-1 overall and 1-0 in OCCAC play. 

Notes

Young, who entered the game as Cuyahoga's second leading scorer, was held to just two points on 1-for-8 shooting by the Owens defense. She has seven points in three career games against Owens.

Troike is now averaging four blocks per game over the past four contests. She has at least three blocks in each of those games after totaling just two over the season's first five games.

Reese, who produced her second straight 13 rebound game, recorded her first double-double of the season, and she had her season-high in blocks. It was her 15th career double-double. Furthermore, she eclipsed 600 career points in tonight's win and became just the 29th player in program history to reach that mark.

Ivey, who entered Wednesday's game with just two blocks this year, easily set a new season-high in that category.

Roseboro, who had nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, set a new season-high for minutes with 22. Pennington tied her season-high in rebounds, and she set a new season-high in assists, topping her previous high of five.

Bethea continued her scoring tear. She now has reached double figures in five straight games and is averaging 15.6 per game over that stretch. She also bumped her career steal total to 129, which is still on pace to break the program's career record.

Everyone scored for Owens including Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio), who scored one point from the free throw line and added three assists and two rebounds. Mossing finished second on the team in assists with four.