By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- After Saturday's 95-49 win over Mercyhurst, the Owens Women's Basketball program has a new single game scoring record holder. Sophomore Shyah Wheeler scored 44 points, which accounted for almost half of the Express's points.
Carrying their hot shooting from Wednesday's victory over Bryant & Stratton, the Express jumped out to a double digit lead in the first period. Owens opened the game on a 19-5 run over the first six and half minutes. The run was capped off by a Lilliana Velazquez three pointer at the 3:30 mark in the opening quarter. The Saints would add a couple of buckets before the Express closed the quarter up 24-9.
The Express would put up another strong quarter in the second. Neither team would shoot well for the quarter, with both shooting under 40%, but Owens would hold the Saints to just 25% from the floor in the second frame. Owens would head to the locker room up 41-16. Wheeler had 18 points at the break to lead all scorers while Lilianna Velazquez had 12 points as well.
The third quarter would be more of the same. Wheeler would score 14 points on 5-8 shooting in the third. The Express would outscore the Saints 31-17 in the quarter, shooting 55% and taking advantage from the free throw line, hitting 8-9. Wheeler would end the quarter with 32 total points.
To start the fourth, Shyah Wheeler was just eight points shy of tying the single game scoring record. The Elida, OH native would score twelve total points in the quarter. The record breaker came at the 1:21 mark in the fourth when Wheeler buried a three from the right wing to break the record to move her point total to 42. She would add a layup for good measure to push her scoring total to 44 points.
The 44 points breaks the record set by Da'Vina Shelton, when she scored 40 points against Hocking College on 2/10/18. Prior to Shelton's outing, Amy Amstutz scored 36 points in a game against Clark State on 2/10/99. Last season, Taylor Works tied Amstutz, when she scored 36 against Hocking on 2/16/19.
Wheeler also finished with a team high 15 rebounds to record her second straight double-double.
Lilliana Velazquez was the only other player in double figures scoring wise. She finished the game with 17 points on 6-15 shooting, and she finished shooting 40% from three. She also had four rebounds and five assists. Tyriana Settles finished with eight points and 12 rebounds as well. Settles had a tough day shooting from the floor, but she made up for it with four assists and five steals.
As a team, Owens shot 45% from the floor for the game. Mercyhurst shot just 26.3% for the game. They were led in scoring by Essence Sims (15 points) and Cerenity Chambers (14 points).
The Express are now 2-8 on the season, tallying their second straight victory.
Owens will now have a week off to prepare for exams. They will next be in action on December 17th here at the SHAC. They will welcome in Muskegon at 5:30 PM. That will represent the last home game of 2019. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 PM.