Owens Selected as No. 3 Seed for NJCAA Tourney

Owens Selected as No. 3 Seed for NJCAA Tourney

By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Toledo, OH -- Well the bracket is set and locked in for the NJCAA Division III Tournament and the Owens Women's Basketball team has been selected as the No. 3 seed in the bracket. 

Owens is scheduled to play against the No. 6 seed, UConn-Avery Point, on Thursday March 14 at 5:00 PM at the Arthur L. Scott Center in Bethlehem, PA. The Pointers were 15-13 this season prior to tournament play.

The Express advanced to the tournament after defeating #3 Rock Valley on Saturday, 104-83. Owens had been unranked in the final few NJCAA polls of the regular season, so the No. 3 seed is quite a bit higher than Owens had been considered during those final few polls. 

Three players finished with more than 20 points on Saturday, while all six Express players finished in double figures scoring wise. Tori Kopp had her best offensive performance of the year against Rock Valley. Kopp, who averaged five points per game coming into the contest, had a career high 21 points, and she was a perfect 8-8 from the floor and 5-5 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed six rebounds on the afternoon. The outing was good enough to name her District B's Most Valuable Player. 

Moreina Moore was the Express's leading scorer, finishing with 26 points on 9-18 shooting. She also grabbed eight rebounds. Fresh off her Region XII MVP performance, Shyah Wheeler turned in a double-double, scoring 24 points on 10-20 shooting and grabbing 12 caroms in the process. She also had six assists in the  as well. Whitney Thames had another double-double to add to her tally for the season. The Perrysburg native scored 10 points and had 15 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end. It was her eighth double-double of the season. 

Playing in her final home game, sophomore Taylor Works finished with 12 points and a game high nine assists. She also had five rebounds. Liliana Velazquez had 11 points off the bench, hitting several clutch threes on 4-6 shooting from the floor. Velazquez almost outscored the Golden Eagle's entire bench, finishing four points shy of their bench scoring. 

Owens shot 52.1% (38-73) from the floor for the game, 505 (11-22) from three, and 85% (17-20) from the free throw line. Rock Valley shot 42.7% (32-75) for the game. 

The bracket fr the entire tournament can be seen below.