Box Score
BATESVILLE, ARK. -- For the fifth consecutive year the William Woods University women's basketball will advance to the American Midwest Conference tournament championship game, as they defeat no. 17 Lyon College 83-69 in the AMC semifinals.
William Woods (25-5, 14-4 AMC) had to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit as they outscored Lyon College (28-4, 17-1 AMC) 56-28 in the second half to advance to their fifth straight AMC title game.
The duo of Priscila Santos and Katie Scherder led the comeback as the duo scored 39 second half points. Santos poured in a career-high 32 points and Scherder tied her career-best mark with 19 points. Both players only had six points each at halftime.
The Scots jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage after a pair of Whitney Keith three-pointers. William Woods forced two consecutive Lyon turnovers to pull within a point at 8-7 with 14:36 left in the half after a Katie Scherder layup.
Lyon would jump out to an 18-12 lead after a Debbie Onukwube layup, which forced head coach Dan Chapla to take a timeout at the 10:49 mark. Out of the timeout the Scots would continue its run as they built a 24-12 advantage with nine minutes remaining.
The Owls were hit with an intentional foul that extended the Scots run to 13-0. Destani Stensrud stopped the bleeding at the 8:08 mark with a floater to pull the Owls deficit to 27-14.
William Woods collected itself and went on a 5-2 run over the next five minutes to pull within 32-19 with 3:20 left remaining in the half. The Owls could not get any close than 13 points for the remainder of the half as they trailed 41-27 going into the half.
The Owls scored the first nine points of the second half to pull within single-digits at 41-36 to force Lyon College to take a timeout. Out of the break, the Scots grabbed three offensive rebounds before finding the bottom of the net to end the William Woods run.
Stephanie Copelin brought the Owls within a basket at 47-44 at the 15-minute mark with a floater. On the next possession the William Woods' defense forced another Scots miss, but Lyon College nabbed another offensive board and put back to push its lead to 49-44.
Santos pulled the Owls within two points at 49-47, and Ashlee Taylor tied the game at 51-all with her layup at the 11:58 mark.
A Santos jumper gave the Owls their first lead at 53-51 with 11:10 remaining in the half. Taylor would extend the WWU lead to 55-51 after receiving a friendly roll on a 10-foot jumper.
Katie Scherder nailed back-to-back three-point baskets to give William Woods a 61-54 advantage with 9:05 left in the game.
William Woods would go on an 11-3 run to extend its lead to double-digits at 66-54 to force a Lyon College timeout with 7:28 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout the Owls extended its lead to 68-54 with 5:57 left.
Lyon ended the WWU run with a layup at the 6:08 mark, and would hit a trifecta on their next basket to cut the Owls lead to 72-59.
William Woods maintained its double-digit lead for the remainder of the half as they advanced for their fifth consecutive AMC title game with an 83-69 victory.
After committing 13 first half turnovers the Owls would end the game with 16 cough ups.
Scherder led all players with 11 rebounds to give the Bowling Green, Mo. native her third straight double-double. Stensrud was the only other Owl in double-figures with 16 points.
William Woods will be back in action on Monday night as they travel to no. 15-ranked Columbia College. The Owls will be going for their fourth AMC title in the last five years. Columbia swept the season series with the Owls as they won both games by double-digits. It will be also be the fourth consecutive year these two schools have met in the AMC finals, with William Woods besting the Cougars twice. Tipoff for the title game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
