By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Toledo, OH -- In their last home game of the 2019 calendar year, the Owens Express Women's Basketball team struggled from the field, and they eventually fell to Muskegon 72-65.

Owens jumped out of the gate with an early lead at 6-5 after a three by Elisha Quinn. A trio of Express layups by Lilliana Velazquez. Tyriana Settles, and Alyssa West ballooned the lead to 12-5. After a small Jayhawks rally, Owens would eventually push the lead to eight points at 17-9 after a Shyah Wheeler layup. The Express would score once more and take a 19-13 lead into the second quarter. 

Owens could not hold onto the lead however. The Express would shoot just 27.8% from the floor in the quarter and Muskegon would take advantage of the cold shooting. The Jayhawks would tie the game up at 21-21, starting the second quarter on an 8-2 run. The two teams would trade baskets the remainder of the half, with the lead changing hands three times throughout the period. The two teams would head to the locker room tied up at 31-31.

The third began as another see saw affair. Muskegon would take an early four point lead after a pair of free throws from Gracie Reinhold. Owens would pull back within one point at 37-36 after a Wheeler layup. Elisha Quinn would give the Express the lead again at 38-37 a minute later. Muskegon would use a five point swing to retake the lead, and then they would push their advantage to seven points with 1:06 to play in the third. 

The fourth would begin with an Express basket to cut the deficit to five points after a Tori Kopp layup. Unfortunately for Owens, the Jayhawks would go on a 6-0 run to take an 11 point lead with 8:13 to play in the game. The Express would not go away quietly though, trimming their deficit to just six points with 4:36 to play. That was the closest Owens would get in the final period of play. A layup by Iyana Brown with 1:57 to play put Muskegon back up by double digits, and the home team was never able to recover, losing by seven points.

Owens was led in scoring by Shyah Wheeler, who finished with 15 points and four rebounds. Two other players would finish in double figures in scoring as well with Allison Finch and Elisha Quinn each scoring 10 points each. Tyriana Settles would finish with six points, five rebounds, and three assists in the game too. 

As a team, the Express shot just 38.6% from the floor while Muskegon would shoot 40.6% from the field. The Jayhawks were led in scoring by Iyana Brown with 20 points and Tanae Hamer with 17 points.

Owens falls to 2-9 overall on the season, while Muskegon improves to 8-1. The Express will play their final game of 2019 on the road on Thursday when they take on Macomb. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 PM.

Notes:

- Two Owens Women's Basketball players graduated at the college's commencement ceremony last weekend. Lilliana Velazquez graduated with her Associate's degree, as did, former Express player Taylor Works. Works will not head to Edinboro to begin play with the Fighting Scots starting this January.