By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- After a difficult first quarter, the Owens Women's Basketball team hit the accelerator and blew past Bryant & Stratton on Wednesday night to win by 28 points.
The Bobcats were the aggressor in the first period, leading the Express by five points at 14-9 with 3:10 to play. After a 30 second Bobcat time out, Owens would close the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 17-14 lead into the second period.
The Express would make good use of the second quarter as well. Owens would outscore the Bobcats 24-8. The closest the Bobcats would get would be four points, after a three point basket by Rachelle White with 6:52 remaining before halftime. Owens would close the quarter on a 19-4 run to make the score 41-22 heading to the locker room.
The Bobcats would claw their way back in during the third quarter. Bryant & Stratton would go on an 8-0 over a two minute stretch to cut the Express lead to just single digits at 50-41 with 2:09 to play in the third. Taylor Works and Shyah Wheeler would finish the third with a pair of buckets to send Owens to the fourth with a 13 point lead.
Moreina Moore would take over in the fourth, scoring nine of her team high 23 points in the period. Owens would outscore the Bobcats 28-15 in the fourth period to take their 84-56 victory.
As stated, Moore led all scorers with 23 points on 8-15 shooting. She also finished with six steals and four rebounds. Taylor Works finished with 20 points on 6-10 shooting and she was efficient at the charity stripe, shooting 7-8. She also netted a double-double with 11 assists, which is a season high for the sophomore.
Shyah Wheeler, who was the offensive catalyst early in the ball game, finished with 19 points. The Elida native also grabbed six boards. Both Whitney Thames and Tori Kopp would end up with double digit rebounds. Thames had 13 while Kopp had 11 caroms on the night.
Liliana Velazaquez contributed 11 points off the bench, including shooting three of four from beyond the arc.
As a team, Owens shot a shade below 50% at 49.2% (30-61) while Bryant & Stratton would finish shooting 34.9% (22-63) from the floor for the ball game.
The Express are now 18-8 overall on the season, while Bobcats fell to 2-19 overall.
Owens will be in action once again on Saturday afternoon, as they host Hocking. The Express will also celebrate sophomore Taylor Works for her contribution to Owens basketball this season. Tip off from the SHAC is slated for 1 PM.
Notes:
- Owens garnered its third consecutive OCCAC Player of the Week as Whitney Thames claimed the honor for the second time in three weeks. Thames was rewarded for her 15 point and 15 rebound effort against Lakeland last Saturday. She also had 10 rebounds in limited action against Sinclair the previous Wednesday. Owens has now had a player win the award five times this season. Thames is the first player to have won it twice this season for the Express. The other winners were Taylor Works, Shyah Wheeler, and Moreina Moore.