By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
In what was their final tune up before the start of postseason play, the Owens Express demonstrated that they are hitting on all cylinders after a convincing 91-57 win at Columbus State on Saturday afternoon.
The Express offense was good right from the get go, as Owens would score 31 points in the first period of the game and they led by a baker's dozen at the end of the game's opening ten minutes. Freshman Da'Vina Shelton accounted for over half of the team's hot offensive start. She made six three pointers in the first period to have 18 points in the game's opening frame.
The Cougars would outscore the Express in the second period by two points at 18-16, and Owens would head to the locker room up 11 points at 47-36.
In the third, Owens would get seven points from sophomore Brenda Pennington to boost the Owens lead to 23 points at the end of the third. Owens used swarming defense to help build their lead as well. The Express would force five turnovers in period and Columbus State shot just 3-11 from the field.
Owens would outscore the Cougars by double digits again in the fourth 23-12 to secure a 34 point win in their final regular season game of the season.
Shelton's hot start helped her to finish as the game's leading scorer with 30 points. It is the third road game in a row where the freshman has scored 30 or more points in a road win. Over her last three road games, Shelton is averaging 35 points per game and is shooting a scorching 75% from the floor in those three ball games. She is also shooting an incredible 66.6% from three during the stretch.
Brenda Pennington finished with a double-double on the afternoon. She scored 19 points in her final regular season game with Owens. She was 9-15 from the field and finished with a game high ten rebounds. It was her third double-double this season. She also had the game high in assists as well with seven.
The post duo of Kaylah Ivey and Olivia Frost each finished the game in double figures scoring wise. Ivey had 11 points and nine rebounds in her final regular season game with the Express. Frost had 12 points off the bench on 5-9 shooting. She finished with eight rebounds as well.
As a team the Express shot 49.3% (36-73) from the floor for the game and 51.9% (14-27) from three. They held Columbus State to just 34.4% (22-64) shooting and 31.8% (7-22) from three. The Cougars were led in scoring by Destiny Wooten who had 22 points on 7-28 shooting from the field.
Owens moved to 23-4 overall for the season and they finish the OCCAC schedule with a record of 13-1, which will win them at least a share of the conference title. They also matched their longest win streak of the season at ten wins in a row now. Columbus State fell to 11-13 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
The Express will be off this coming weekend. The team was originally supposed to play Clark State on March 3rd, but Eagles canceled the remainder of their women's season back on January 26. Owens will not play again until the start of the district tournament. The Express will have a bye and will play next on Friday March 9th against an opponent to be determined. The tournament will be played at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, OH.