Fulton, Mo. -- The William Woods University womens' basketball team saw its furious comeback attempt fall just short on Thursday night as the team lost 65-68 to Hannibal-LaGrange University. Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) posted her fourth double-double (17 pts, 11 reb.) of the season and the team's sixth in as many games, but an HLG 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds stunned the #22-ranked Owls.

WWU quickly found itself on the wrong side of a 8-0 run, missing its first four attempts from the floor and failing to capitalize on three Trojan turnovers. The Owls sputtered to life, but still found themselves down 5-10 with 14:52 to go in the half.

A Ciara Tatum (Columbia, Mo.) jumper in the lane with 11:26 left in the first half finally seemed to rouse the Owls, with a 17-9 run putting William Woods up 26-22 with just over a minute to go, but HLG was able to close out the half with two makes and pick up a defensive stop to leave the teams knotted at 26-26.
 
Coming out of the break, WWU was simply no match for the hot-shooting Trojans, as HLG connected on its next 13 attempts - 8-of-8 FG, 5-of-5 FT - to take a 50-37 lead with 13:21 to go.

Miranda Loesch (Lohman, Mo.) finally stopped the HLG run with 12:58 on the clock, as she stoned Trenee Thornton in the low post. The senior picked up the rebound as well following the rejection, adding a second rebound in the space of 30 seconds off a missed Tatum free throw. Loesch found an open Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) for three to bookend a 7-0 spurt pulling WWU to within six, but as quickly as the Owls reeled in the Trojans, HLG responded, pulling back to 46-57 with 7:11 left.

The Owls would eventually battle back , with a pair of Loesch free throws closing the gap to 61-65 with 1:12 on the clock. Andrews got the Anderson Arena crowd on its feet with two quick baskets, converting after the Owls drew a charge and picking the pocket of Klara Glor with just 14 seconds left to tie the game at 65-65.

HLG was able to find an open look on its next possession, however, as Ashleigh Spencer drained a trey with 1.1 seconds to go and WWU wasn't able to get a clean look as time expired.

William Woods falls to 10-5 on the season, and 0-1 in AMC play. In addition to Andrew's double-double, Aubuchon had 22 points to lead the Owls. Ashley Wilson also recorded a double-double on the evening, with the HLG senior leading all scorers with 27 points and adding 11 rebounds. Spencer also finished in double figures, with 21 on the night for the Trojans.

Both teams shot considerably better in the second half, with the Owls hitting at a .560 pace to close with a .431 overall mark from the floor. The Trojans mustered a .577 pace to end the contest at a .472 clip. WWU edged out HLG in the rebounding battle 32-31 as well.

The Owls hit the road for the next two AMC contests, with Park University offering the next test. Tipoff for Saturday's game between WWU and the Pirates is set for 2 p.m.