WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. -- Four players for the William Woods women's basketball team ended the evening in double figures as the Owls rolled to a 65-53 win over Williams Baptist College on Thursday night.
Miranda Loesch (Lohman, Mo.) finished just one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds in the win, which marked the 50th AMC win for head coach
Dan Chapla.
Neither team got a great start to the contest. Although the Owls would tally first behind a 3-pointer from
Blake French (St. Charles, Mo.) with just under a minute gone, it would be nearly four minutes between buckets for WWU, as
Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) hit a trey of her own with 15:55 on the clock.
The Eagles jumped out to a 10-16 lead with 8:44 to go in the half before both teams hit a bit of a cold snap. WWU would snap out of the funk earlier, with an 8-0 run featuring two French 3-pointers wrapped around a bucket from
Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) putting the Owls in front 18-16 with 6:09 left.
William Woods would trail for just 17 seconds over the remainder of the contest, as the Eagles responded with a 5-3 run to retake the lead at the 3:29 mark.
Ashlee Taylor (Dexter, Mo.) knocked down a field goal with 3:12 in the half to put WWU up 22-21 as the Owls took a 30-25 lead into the break.
After the intermission, WWU pushed out to a 12-point lead and although WBC closed to within three twice down the stretch and to within two once, the Owls rebuffed the comeback. The Eagles converted a three-point play after Kim Sutterfield was fouled by Aubuchon with 11:27 to go, but the senior immediately redeemed herself with back-to-back buckets stretcnihg WWU's lead back to 50-44.
WWU continued to pull away as the game closed, finishing the night shooting .456 to a .358 pace for the Eagles. WWU also dominated the boards, with a 40-29 edge on the night and a 36-20 edge in the paint. In addition to Loesch, Taylor and French also finished with 14 points on the night, with Aubuchon adding 10. Jessica Shepard led all scorers with 18 on the night, with Kimberly Wise adding 14 for the Eagles.
The win marked the 50th in league play for
Dan Chapla, only the second coach in WWU history to reach that milestone. The Owls will finish out the road swing on Saturday at Harris-Stowe State University. Tipoff for the game is set for 2 p.m.
