By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Kirtland, Ohio---Five players reached double figures as the No. 9 Owens Community College women's basketball team routed Lakeland Community College 100-53 on the road last night to clinch the program's fourth straight Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) championship.
Owens is now 21-6 overall and 12-0 in OCCAC play. They have also now won five of the past six OCCAC championships.
Lakyn Gulley (South Side/Fort Wayne, Ind.) opened the game's scoring with her 83rd 3-pointer of the season, which puts her three away from breaking the program's single game mark for most in a season.
Later in the quarter, Jeryn Reese (Mansfield/Mansfield, Ohio) added seven points before Aysah Ingram (Trotwood-Madison/Trotwood, Ohio) scored the final six points to give Owens a 22-8 lead through one.
Mikayla Ward (Huron/Ypsilanti, Mich.) then scored four points to help Owens open the second quarter on an 8-0 run, which gave her team a 30-8 lead just under two minutes in.
In the final two minutes of the quarter, Sybil Roseboro (Elyria/Elyria, Ohio) hit a layup, followed by a jumper from Rese and a layup from Ariel Bethea (Huron/Ann Arbor, Mich.) to give Owens a 47-22 lead at halftime.
Owens came out of the locker room with more intensity, especially on the defensive end, which led to five easy buckets to open the half. They did so without missing a shot, and the run included six points from Reese.
In the middle of the quarter, Owens went on a 17-0 stretch, capped by two free throws from Roseboro, that opened up a 70-26 lead with 2:47 left.
Briana Williams (Stebbins/Dayton, Ohio) then scored six of her team's final eight points of the quarter as Owens took a 78-30 lead into the fourth.
The lead was 50 when Bethea opened the fourth with a layup. A few minutes later, Gulley hit a layup off a nice pass from Reynolds to push the lead back to 50. Following that, Lakeland scored eight consecutive points, but Owens scored eight points in the game's final 1:18, including a 3-pointer from Reynolds with 15 seconds left, to pick up a 47 point victory.
Williams played a team-high 28 minutes. Aside from her, nobody else played more than 22 minutes. Reese, in 19 minutes, led Owens with 17 points, eight rebounds and six steals.
Off the bench, Bethea and Ingram scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, while Bethea also had four steals and Ingram chipped in six rebounds and two blocks.
Williams (13) and Reynolds (11) also reached double figures, while Williams had five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Reynolds also added five rebounds and three assists.
Despite making just 2-for-10 from 3-point range, interestingly enough on the their first and final field goals of the game, Owens shot a blistering 20-for-23 from the foul line and 39-for-76 (51.3 percent) from the field. They also outrebounded Lakeland 54-30, including a 22-12 advantage on the offensive glass.
For Lakeland, Jaelah Dye scored a game-high 18 points, while adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Aloneet Durden also had double figures with 16 points, as well as seven assists.
Owens will be back in action on Saturday at home against Clark State Community College. The two teams previously met on Jan. 16, with Owens coming out on top 70-54.
Lakeland falls to 11-14 overall and 4-7 in OCCAC play.
Notes
Owens reached the century mark for the fourth time in the past six games. They have also reached at least 100 six times in conference play. In 12 games, they are averaging a conference-high 91.4 points and allowing a conference low 52.7 points per contest.
In terms of defense, Owens held Lakeland to single digits in a quarter twice, which they have now done 12 times in conference play this year.
Owens has now won 11 straight games overall, having not dropped a game since Dec. 30.
With five more assists tonight, Williams now has 156 assists this year and 278 in her career. She is still chasing the single season record of 226 and the career mark of 329.
Gulley recorded one steal vs Lakeland, which gives her 81 this year and has her 22 away from breaking the single season record of 102 held by Elizabeth Harris from 1997-98.
Ingram and Reese now have 287 and 283 rebounds this year, respectively. The single season mark is 411, set by Tammy Murphy in 1997-98.
Reynolds now has 498 career points following her 11 point game vs Lakeland. She is attempting to become the second player in this year's sophomore class to record at least 500 career points.
Owens has now won 33 consecutive regular season conference games, which extends a program record. They haven't lost in conference play since Feb. 1, 2014. In those 33 games, they have reached 100 points in exactly one-third of them.