FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University women's basketball team closes out the regular season Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. matchup against Missouri Baptist University. Prior to the game, the Owls will recognize five student-athletes who will complete their career in Burgundy and Forest Green. The game is also a preview of Wednesday's likely first round matchup in the AMC Postseason Tournament.
Earlier This Season
In the first game between the Owls and the Spartans, WWU rolled to a 20-point victory behind a three-pronged offensive effort spearheaded by
Miranda Loesch's 14-point outing. The Owls took a five-point cushion into halftime, but used a strong offensive outburst and withering defense - holding MBU to just 15 points in the second stanza - to close out 64-44 winners.
Sharron Andrews (11 pts) and
Katie Scherder (10 pts) also finished in double figures for William Woods on the night.
Setting The Scenarios
After seeing a wild and unpredictable season offer up a huge array of potential scenarios for playoff seeding heading into Thursday night's games, the picture became crystal clear with the results from the penultimate night of league play.
Columbia College claimed the regular season title and the #1 seed for the postseason tournament with its win over Hannibal-LaGrange, and William Woods locked up the #2 seed with its win over Stephens. At the bottom end of the table, Missouri Baptist is locked into the #7 seed, with Stephens College the #8.
The picture is somewhat less clear in the battle for the 3-6 seeds, particularly if results fall in line with performance to date, as Park and Williams Baptist (currently tied for 3rd) and Hannibal-LaGrange and Harris-Stowe (currently tied for 5th) split their respective season series, pushing the tiebreaker calculation to games against resolved seeds.
Quick Look - William Woods
Currently second in the AMC, William Woods is still within reach of a share of the regular-season league title, although the Owls need some help from Hannibal-LaGrange and Harris-Stowe. The Owls are led offensively by
Sharron Andrews, who has averaged 12.8 pts/gm on the year for WWU.
Megan Aubuchon and
Ashlee Taylor have chipped in 9.5 and 8.6 pts/gm respectively on the season. And although Aubuchon is the team's leading rebounder through all games on the year with 6.9 per contest, Andrews has posted a solid 5.9 reb/gm mark in league play to claim top honors on the limited slate.
As a team, the Owls hold a number of spots in the national rankings, highlighted by the team's defensive performance. WWU holds its opponents to 56.5 pts/gm on .362 shooting, good for 17th and 22nd in the nation respectively. The Owls are ranked across the board in rebounding, led by the Owls defensive rebounding average of 27.5 (25th) and total rebounding margin of 4.1 per game (31st). William Woods ranks 32nd in rebounding defense, allowing 36.1 per game, and 41st in rebounding per game with 40.3.
The Owls are also ranked in the top 40 in blocks, with 87 total blocks good for 30th in the nation and the per game pace of 3.1 good for 35th. Individually, Andrews ranks among the top steal artists in the country, with her pace of 2.393 per game good for 30th among all NAIA Division I players and her overall total of 67 good for 37th.
Quick Look - Missouri Baptist
Missouri Baptist enters this afternoon with a 9-19 record, and a 3-10 mark in league play. The Spartans are fairly good from long-range, ranking 10th in the nation in 3-pt FG shooting accuracy at .337 per game and 22nd in 3-pt FG per game with 6.179. Andrew Seabaugh leads the charge for MBU, ranking 7th in the country in total 3-pt FG with 68 on the season. Her per-game pace of 2.429 is good for 10th among NAIA Division I schools. The Spartans are also strong inside, with Chelsea Prosser ranked 19th in the country with 45 total blocks on the year - her per-game mark of 1.6 is good for 23rd.
Milestone Watch
Having picked up his 50th AMC win at Williams Baptist College, head coach
Dan Chapla became just the second coach to hit that plateau for WWU - Melissa Brooks is the other - and with a win today he will claim his milestone 100th win for the Owls. He is all but guaranteed of reaching the mark in the fastest pace of any coach at WWU, as Roger Ternes hit the mark in his 159th game at the helm and Brooks needed 195 games to hit the plateau. Today is Chapla's 128th game as the head coach for William Woods.
