By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- After a nailbiting finish on Saturday, the Owens Women's basketball team went down to the wire for the second straight game. The Express, who were victorious in their season opener over Oakland, got a basket from Taylor Works to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately, Jacara Thompson and the Bears were too much for Owens, as they pulled away in the extra session 92-86.
Owens jumped out to the early lead at 23-19 after the first period, but the Bears would storm back in the second to tie the score at 36 at the break. Much like the first period, Owens would again retake the lead heading into the fourth at 59-51. The Express would lead throughout much of the final period of play, but Sasha Penn's three with 45 seconds left tied the score at 70. Mott would make a pair of free throws to put the Bears up two with 11 seconds. That's when Works would drive the lane and hit the game tying layup with just six ticks left. Penn attempted another three as time expired, but it was no good.
In overtime, both teams traded baskets to start before Mott would go on a 10-2 run to put them up three at 84-77 with 1:41 remaining in the game. The Express would never recover, and they would fall 92-86 to Mott.
Owens was led in scoring by sophomore Taylor Works. She finished with 27 points on 8-15 shooting, and she was 11-15 from the free throw line. Works also grabbed five rebounds and had a team high seven assists and four steals.
Freshman Moreina Moore tallied 20 points on 5-13 shooting. She was 3-5 from three and was a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe. Moore grabbed nine rebounds and had three steals. The other player in double figures was Liliana Velazquez with 16 points. She shot 7-13 from the floor. She also had four rebounds and two steals against the Bears.
Perrysburg products Tori Kopp and Whitney Thames each finished in double figured for rebounds. Kopp led the team with 11 caroms while Thams finished with ten, including five rebounds on the offensive end.
As a team Owens shot 40% for the ball game and 38.5% from three. The also shot 76.3% from the charity stripe.
With the loss, the Express drop to 1-1 on the season, while Mott moved to 2-0. The Express now have a week off before they play again. They will play on the road next Monday at Mercyhurst Northeast.