The Owens Community College women’s basketball team has experienced success in its history, but never climbed to No. 1 in national rankings.
That changed in the second week of this season.
And it hasn’t changed since.
For the 10th straight week, the Express are ranked first in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III poll. Owens, which consists of 11 freshmen and one sophomore, is 18-2 overall and received a unanimous nine first-place votes in the most recent poll.
“It comes with a little bit of pressure that we're dealing with,” Owens coach Stephen Perry said. “We always say we have a target on our back now, but I'd rather be in that spot than not be ranked at all. It's a challenge, and I think that ranking is keeping our team more focused.”
Owens has one national championship this school year with the volleyball team winning its latest title.
Women’s basketball has the potential to be the next national title team.
“They can look at our roster and say, 'Oh, it's a lot of freshmen. They don't know what they're doing,' but clearly we do, because we're No. 1,” said Cierra Harris, a Southview graduate. “I think if we keep pushing, then we'll be successful.”
Owens has never won a women’s basketball national title. In 2018-19, the Express reached the national championship game and finished as runner-up.
This year’s team is determined to make this season their year.
“We were right there [in 2019], and now we know that feeling as coaches and what we need to do to get there,” said Perry, who is in his third year as head coach and 14th season with the program. “But we wanna be that next one. Men’s basketball has a couple national championships back in the 90s, and then of course volleyball, and we wanna be this women’s basketball team that gets one.”
The Express didn’t have an easy start to the season. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Owens was unable to meet as a team until the first day of classes last semester. It gave them 2½ months to prepare for their first game in early November.
The abnormal preseason had little effect.
Owens won its first game by 29 points and second game by 42. It is averaging 74.8 points per game, while only allowing 54.5 — the offensive average ranks first nationally in NJCAA Division III. Both losses this season came against teams one division higher, and Owens has avenged one loss to Schoolcraft.
In the most recent outing, the Express survived a scare and beat Hocking in double overtime.
“As we were leaving, one of their fans said, 'They’re No. 1 for a reason,’” Harris said. “We take a lot of pride in that and, we know that we have to come ready every day in order to keep being No. 1. If we don't, we'll drop.”
Harris, the only sophomore on the team, is averaging a team-best 12.3 points per game and is 26th in NJCAA Division III for rebounds per game with 10.6. Three other players are averaging double digits: Hayley St. John (Lake High School) 11.3 points, Dasia Hardison 10.8 points, and Taylor Starks 10.1.
“I think our chemistry has come together really well,” St. John said. “We know our weaknesses and our strengths, and I think we just use each to our advantage.”
Seven regular-season games remain, before the postseason begins.
“As they've been learning, we've been winning games. I think that's important for our psyche,” Perry said. “If some of those games might have went the other way, it's easy to go down that path. But our kids found ways to win and be able to do it while learning. I think we're starting to kick things up a notch.”
First Published February 3, 2022, 4:26 p.m.
