Box Score
FULTON, Mo. -- No. 13 Columbia College built a 20-point lead early in the second half that it would not relinquish, as they spoil No. 19-ranked William Woods University women's basketball team's American Midwest Conference opener, by defeating the Owls 76-61 at Anderson Arena on Thursday night.
Columbia College (3-3, 1-0 AMC) used an 11-2 run out of the break to push its 11-point half time lead to a game-high 22 points at 54-32. William Woods (5-2, 0-1 AMC) would fight back to pull within 10 at 63-53 with eight minutes to play, but they could never get the Columbia lead under to single-digits as they drop its conference opener by 15 points.
"We talked about the first five minute of the second half being extremely important for us, and we didn't respond," said Head Coach Dan Chapla said. "Columbia really steps up their game against us, and some of our players didn't tonight and that was the difference."
William Woods shot a season-low 30 percent on 18-of-60 from the floor. The Owls were even worse from three-point land, where they shot a season-high 35 three pointers, yet connected on just 10 of them for 28.6 percent.
"We weren't very good offensive tonight," Chapla said. "Credit Columbia for that, but we had a lot of players who didn't show up tonight who are normally very good players for us."
Juniors Blake French and Paige Stewart came off the bench to provide the Owls with 26 points, a team-high 16 points came from French, while Stewart chipped in with a season-high 10 points.
"I'm really proud of those two for coming in and providing us with a spark," Chapla said of his juniors. "Those were two players who played with some confidence tonight. Blake's been doing it for us all year, which is nice to have, but she cannot do it alone."
French has now recorded three double-digit performances in her last four games, averaging 11 points over the stretch.
Senior Katie Scherder earned her first double-double of the year by recording a 12-point, 10-rebound effort. Stephanie Copelin and Andraquay Quinnine also posted double-figures by scoring 10 and 11 respectively.
Two-time AMC Player of the Year, Heather English, scored a game-high 20 points for Columbia College, while Aqua Corpening turned in an 18-point performance thanks to a 6-of-11 performance from behind the arc.
William Woods grabbed its only lead of the game at 3-2, after a Quinnine three-point basket on its first possession. Columbia College took a 10-5 lead with 16:30 remaining in the half thanks to an 8-2 run.
Copelin's second chance basket tied the game at 10 -10, but it would be a short-lived tie, as the Cougars mounted another extended run, this time scoring 10 unanswered points to take a 20-10 lead.
Quinnine's second trey of the half pulled William Woods within three points at 26-23, but back-to-back Corpening three-pointers pushed the Cougar lead back out to 12 points with 1:20 remaining in the half.
The Owls got under single-digits at 39-30 with Quinnine's third three-point field goal, but a Tierney Seifert jumper at the buzzer gave Columbia College a 41-30 lead going into the break.
Columbia College opened the second half by scoring 11 of the half's first 13 points to take a commanding 52-32 lead. The Cougars maintained its 20-point advantage until the 8-minute mark, as Stewart, French, and Scherder hit four straight three pointers to pull WWU within 10 points at 63-53.
A quick 5-0 run by the Cougars extended its lead back out to 15. Columbia was able to maintain its double-digit lead for the remainder of the game and took home 76-61 victory.
It will be a quick turnaround for William Woods, as they take to the road to face Williams Baptist College for a Saturday afternoon AMC contest.
 "We have to move on from this game, it's just one of 22 games for us, and we have to forget about it and try to get better, and get ready for a quality team on the road," expressed Chalpa.
Like the Owls, the Lady Eagles are 5-2 on the year and picked up its first conference win of the season with a 57-48 win over Park University tonight. Tip-off for this game is set for 1 p.m.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of this and every game during the 2013-14 season.
