By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) broke the career steals record as the No. 3 Owens Community College women's basketball team picked up a 97-60 win over Edison State Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.
With the win, Owens remains undefeated at 18-0 overall and 5-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will be back in action in the SHAC on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Clark State Community College. Edison fell to 11-4 overall and 3-2 in OCCAC play.
Bethea entered the game needing three steals to break the career record held by Elizabeth Harris (1995-97, 176). She grabbed her third steal early in the second half and finished with seven, while also adding 13 points, five assists, two rebounds and two blocks. She now needs 20 steals to break the program's single season record held by Lakyn Gulley (2015-16, 103).
GAME SUMMARY
In addition to Bethea, five others reached double figures in scoring for Owens, led by Jeryn Reese's (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) 15 point, eight rebound, three steal, two assist, one block performance. She finished 7-for-10 from the field and grabbed three of her rebounds on the offensive glass.
Courizma Williams (Hughes/Cincinnati, Ohio), Bethea and Kaylah Ivey (Westerville South/Westerville, Ohio) each added 13 points, while Williams tied Reese for the team-high in rebounds with eight. Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) and Essence Cowan (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) each added 12 points.
Brenda Pennington (Bishop Noll/Hammond, Ind.) fell just short of reaching double figures with nine points, but produced a game-high eight assists. Haili Mossing (Evergreen/Metamora, Ohio) also had eight points off the bench, while Denissa Sly (Northmont/Englewood, Ohio) finished second on the team in assists with four, while adding three steals in just 20 minutes.
Cowan scored five points in the first three minutes as Owens opened the game on a 13-2 run. A few minutes later, a 9-0 run pushed the lead to 28-10 with 1:41 left. Four different players scored during the run.
After Edison closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run, Owens answered by scoring the first five points of the second quarter behind a three-point play from Bethea and a layup from Mossing.
Edison's Holly Frey made 1-for-2 at the foul line to pull her team within 16 with 6:29 left in the half, but Owens went on a 9-0 run to open up a 25-point lead. Roseboro capped the run with a 3-pointer.
Owens then closed the half on a 10-2 run to take a 57-24 lead into the break. Mossing scored four straight, and then Sly hit a jumper just before the buzzer to end the run.
A 9-1 run midway through the third quarter gave Owens a 72-32 lead, which became as many as 49 on a layup from Williams with 8:04 left. Edison, however, closed the game on an 20-8 run.
Owens finished 41-for-73 (56.2 percent) from the field) and held a 48-22 scoring advantage in the paint. They also outscored Edison 36-15 in bench points.
Carly Buzzard (13) and Jessie Crowell (12) led Edison State in scoring.
RECORDS, STREAKS
Owens has now won 32 straight regular season games dating back to Jan. 6 of last year, and they have won 39 straight conference games dating back to Feb. 8, 2014. They have won 15 of 18 games by at least 30 points, are averaging 95.8 points per game and are outscoring its opponents by an average of 49.8 points.
On top of that, Owens fell three points shy of its fourth straight 100-point game, although they have seven such games this year, which is three short of breaking the single season record set by last year's team.
Owens had scored 100 or more points in the past four matchups against Edison before tonight, but they improved to 33-15 all-time against them, and they are 19-4 all-time at home in the series. Head coach Mike Llanas is 21-5 in his career against Edison, and Owens has won nine straight in the series.
REESE MOVES UP CAREER SCORING LIST
Reese pushed her career point total up to 739, which moved her past Teresa Miller (1992-95, 734) for 17th on the career scoring list. Next up is Angie Phegley (2000-02, 747) and Unique Lane (2007-09, 768).
BETHEA'S STATUS
Bethea now has 526 points and 181 steals over 43 career games. This year, she has 84 steals, which is 20 short of breaking Gulley's record.
CONFERENCE LEADERS
Through five conference games, Owens has the top shot blocker (Ivey, 3.6/game), the top steal producer (Bethea, 5.4 per game), and the top assist producer (Pennington, 8.2/game). Reese is tied for second in rebounds (11.0/game), while Bethea and Reese are seventh and eighth in PPG.