By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Coming off a rough shooting night against Cuyahoga, freshman forward Da'Vina Shelton reversed her fortunes and then some on Saturday afternoon to help Owens to a 117-39 win on the road against the Lorain County Commodores. Shelton finished with a double-double, scoring 34 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in Saturday's victory.
The Express would get off to a hot start in the first period, with Shelton leading the way. She scored the team's first eight points of the game and finished with 19 of the team's 40 points. The Express would lead after the game's first ten minutes 40-6. From there on out, the Express would outscore the Commodores 77-33 over the game's final three quarters.
All five Owens starters would finish the game in double figures scoring wise. Three starters finished with double-doubles on the afternoon. Shelton's 34 points came on 12-24 shooting and a scorching 6-12 from three. It was the first double-double of Shelton's career. The 34 points were also her career high in scoring. Her previous high was 28 points back on November 21 against Mercyhurst North East.
Joining Shelton with double-double stat lines were sophomores Kaylah Ivey and Brenda Pennington. Ivey scored 17 points on 8-14 shooting and she had a game high 13 rebounds on the afternoon. It is Ivey's fifth double-double of the season. Brenda Pennington finished with 11 points and a game high 12 assists for the game. It was Pennington's second double-double of the season. The previous one came against Hocking College back on December 2.
Freshman Dai'Shona Polk was close to a double-double on the afternoon. Polk finished with 18 points on 8-16 shooting. She was a rebound shy of earning a double-double as she finished with nine for the game. Essence Cowan was the second leading scorer for the game. She had 23 points and was 50% (7-14) from beyond the arc.
Freshman Alexis Boston grabbed ten rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
Owens shot 47% (47-100) from the floor for the game while Lorain County shot just 23% (12-53) on the day. The Express also forced 22 turnovers during the game and they finished with 17 steals as well. It was the eighth time this season that the Express finished in double digits for steals as a team.
The Express moved to 18-4 for the season and 8-1 in the OCCAC. They have now won five straight games in a row, which is the second longest active streak of the season. The Commodores fell to 5-16 overall and 1-8 in the OCCAC.
Owens will next have a big match this Wednesday evening when they welcome in Sinclair. The Express's only conference loss came to the Tartan Pride back on January 10. Sinclair won that game 67-59. Owens currently a game behind Sinclair for first place in the OCCAC. Tip off time for the game will be at 5:30 at the SHAC.