Box Score FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University women's basketball team took care of business on both ends of the floor as they held on for a 72-64 win over College of the Ozarks on Tuesday night. The Owls had four players finish in double figures, led by
Priscila Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) with 15 points and held a hot-shooting Lady Bobcat squad to a season-low .067 from three-point range to improve to 5-1 on the year.
The Owls caught a lucky break off the opening tap, as the Lady Bobcats controlled the ball in the frontcourt but passed the ball back across the division line, turning it over. WWU couldn't capitalize on the good fortune, however, as Ozarks broke out to a 7-2 lead.
Ashlee Taylor (Dexter, Mo.) sparked a 13-0 run for William Woods, draining a three point shot off the pass from
Olivia Storjohann (Eldridge, Iowa). Storjohann converted a Taylor pass with 15:08 left to give the Owls a 9-7 lead, and WWU would not trail again in the contest.
The Lady Bobcats were able to stanch the bleeding with just over 10 minutes to go, as Morgan Smith hit a pair of baskets to close the gap to 15-11, but the Owls were able to stretch back out to a double-digit margin over the next three minutes.
William Woods was able to withstand a pair of pushes from the Ozarks, taking a 34-24 lead into the halftime intermission.
The second half got off to a slow start, with neither team able to make a bucket until a
Katie Scherder (Bowling Green, Mo.) layup with 15:56 on the clock. She was fouled on the attempt and couldn't convert the three-point play, but Taylor picked the pocket of Emily Walker and found Scherder on the break for a 40-24 Owls lead.
The Owls kept the Lady Bobcats at arm's length for most of the stretch run, allowing Ozarks no closer than eight points until there was less than a minute to play.
Walker was able to find the bucket to close the margin to 67-61, but
Julia Wells (Springfield, Mo.) hit on one of her two double-bonus free throws to keep it a three-possession game.
Trailing by six, the Lady Bobcats tried to foul and hope for a miss, but the hot-shooting Wells drew the foul and knocked in her 10th and 11th free throws (of 13 attempts) on the night and
Stephanie Copelin (O'Fallon, Ill.) swiped the ball on the inbounds to close out the game.
In addition to Santos, Scherder and Wells each had 13 points on the night, with Taylor rounding out the quartet of double-digit scorers with 11. The Owls spread out the rebounding load, with Wells pulling down eight of WWU's 41 boards on the night. Smith led all scorers on the night with 24 points, with Walker chipping in 17.
Both teams were somewhat short of their season shooting averages, with Ozarks holding a .371-.370 edge on the night but falling far short of their .492 season pace. WWU was somewhat short of its .398 season mark, but held on for the win.
The Owls step into the exhibition space on Saturday, traveling to Western Illinois. Tipoff for the game is set for 4:30 p.m.
