By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- For the fourth straight game, the Owens Express Women's Basketball team was able to end up of the right side of the scoreboard, beating Terra State 72-59 on Wednesday evening.
Owens would lead wire to wire in the contest, scoring the first bucket of the ballgame and never trailing. The Express would lead 20-15 after the first period. Owens would extend that lead heading to halftime, leading by 12 points at 35-23.
The Titans would begin the third on a 9-2 run to close within five points of the Express after a layup from Keyana Booth with 6:40 to play in the period. Owens would regain their momentum though, pushing the lead back to nine points by the end of the period at 50-41.
A Shyah Wheeler three would push the lead back to double digits in the fourth at the 8:39 mark, giving Owens an 11 point advantage at 54-43. Owens would maintain that cushion, pushing the lead to as high as 15 points after a Tori Kopp layup with 3:44 to play in the contest. Owens would never look back, winning the game by a baker's dozen when the horn sounded.
Owens was lead by Shyah Wheeler in scoring with a game high 31 points from the sophomore. Wheeler would score nearly half of Owens's 37 second half points, scoring 16 in the in the game's final two periods. The Elida native would also grab 11 rebounds for her team high fifth double-double of the season.
Lillianna Velazquez was the only other player in double figures scoring wise, pouring in 11 points of the bench in 23 minutes of action.
Whitney Thames was the team's leading rebounder with 16 while also contributing eight points in the scoring column. In her eight games since joining the Express in January, Thames has tallied double digits in rebounds in seven of the games. She is currently averaging 12.5 caroms per game.
Owens would shoot 41.3% (26-63) from the floor as a team, and they would shoot 84.6% (11-13) from the free throw line for the game. Terra State would shoot 37.9% (25-66) from the floor as a team. They were led in scoring by Toledo native, KeArrah Peace, who finished with 19 points.
With the win, Owens is now 8-12 on the season, and they remain at 5-2 in the OCCAC. Terra State falls to 10-7 overall on the season.
Owens has a critical conference match on the road this Saturday at Columbus State. The Express are scheduled to tip off at 1:00 PM from the state capitol against the Cougars. Owens won the last matchup a little over a week ago by a final of 73-63.