By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Toledo, OH -- The Owens Express played their final home games of 2017 and they sent out the home crowd on a very happy note. The Express played games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. 

On Friday, the team welcomed in Kalamazoo Valley for a Friday matinee. The Express led the Cougars by just five points at the end of the first period, but the Express hit the accelator in the second. They outscored Kalmazo Valley 34-9 in the second period to take a 58-28 lead into the locker room at the break. The Express shot 51.2% in the first half from the field and an remarkable 70% from beyond the arc. 

The second half was more evenly played with the Express outscoring the Cougars 33-30 in over the final 20 minutes of the ballgame. The Express were led in scoring by freshman Daichele Hatcher off the bench. The Akron native scored 22 points on 9-13 shooting from the floor. She was a perfect 3-3 from three as well. Fellow freshman Da'Vina Shelton and Dai'Shona Polk weren't far behind in scoring, with both in double figures. Shelton finished with 18 points and was 8-9 from the charity stripe in the contest. Polk scored 17 points on 8-14 shooting and she also had seven rebounds. 

Freshman Alexis Boston was a rebounding machine, finishing with 11 for the game against Kalamazoo Valley. That is her career high so far in her short time with the Express. Her previous high was six. 

There was no time to celebrate however, as the Express were back on the hardwood on Saturday afternoon against Hocking College. Owens showed little fatigue as they jumped out to an impressive 30-1 lead during the first period. The lone point for the Hawks came on a technical foul that was assessed to the Express to start the game. Owens ended up scoring 65 points in the first half. At the break they had a 57 point lead. Owens shot a whopping 65.1% from the floor in the first half, including 5-9 from three. 

With a big lead, the Express did not pack it in. The lead would grow to as high as 85 points, before Hocking's Shianne Nameth hit three consecutive three point baskets. Owens would outscore the Hawks 53-27 over the final two periods of the game to win handily 118-35. 

The Express were led in scoring by Da'Vina Shelton. She finished 10-16 from the field and 7-10 from beyond the arc to finish with 28 points in the game. Dai'Shona Polk would add 19 points of her own and nine points in the game. Sophomores Kaylah Ivey and Olivia Frost each finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double each for the pair. The performance on Saturday was Ivey's third double-double of the season, while it was the first for Frost on the season. 

The Express are now 7-1 on the season and 3-0 in the OCCAC on the season. The Express will get a week off, before hitting the road on Saturday December 9 to take on Schoolcraft, whom they beat 83-61 to start the season.