FULTON, Mo.— The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will finally get its 2014-15 season underway on Tuesday night, as the Owls play host to Missouri Valley College. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Anderson Arena.
The Owls (0-0), will be looking to build off another stellar year on the court, as they finished the 2013-14 season 22-11 overall and 14-8 in the American Midwest Conference (AMC), making it six straight years' the team has won at least 20 games.
WWU was eliminated from the AMC Postseason Tournament Semifinals against Freed-Hardeman University, but still earned the NAIA's final at-large bid to qualify for the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Tournament.
At Nationals, the Owls met up with No. 3-ranked Westminster College (Utah), and despite the effort shown from the team throughout the game, the Griffins defeated William Woods 66-50, ending its year.
This season, the Owls were picked fourth in the AMC Preseason Poll, as No. 2-ranked Freed-Hardeman comes in at No. 1, followed by No. 20-ranked Columbia College at No. 2 and Lyon College at No. 3.
Looking to lead the offense this year for the Owls will be the trio of
Blake French,
Destani Stensrud and sophomore
Kennedy Volkart.
French, a St. Charles, Missouri, native, is coming off one of her best seasons with the Owls, as she averaged a career-high 10.7 points, while shooting a team-high 53.4 percent from the field and 84.4 percent from the free throw line. Her standout play on the court, got her named to the All-AMC honorable mention team for the first time in her collegiate career.
Stensrud, meanwhile, also set a new career-high, averaging 8.1 points per game last year and shot 43.7 percent from the floor. The Exeter, Missouri, native, led the Owls in the assist category, dishing out a career-best 104 assists in 33 games.
Volkart, a Russellville, Missouri, native, averaged 6.4 points in her first season with the Owls. She hit 45.6 percent of her shots from the field and ranked fourth on the team in rebounds (127) and second in blocked shots (20).
The team will also be looking to returners
Julia Wells,
Kelsey Scherder and
Paige Stewart to make an impact this year, while transfers
Nia Lateju (Cerritos CC),
Marissa Webb (Three Rivers CC) and freshman
Karinne Lane and
Nikki Callahan look to play key roles for the Owls this season.
This will be the second straight year the Owls open up against Missouri Valley (0-1), as last season, WWU defeated the Vikings 74-59, as the team shot 44.2 percent from the floor, while the defense limited the Vikings to just 32.8 percent.
"This is our first game and anything is possible, as we are trying to figure out who we are a little bit," said head coach
Dan Chapla. "We are just looking for effort, playing hard and trying to get better, as first games are always a surprise."
The Vikings, who finished last year 19-13 overall, have already got a game under its belt this year, as they fell in its season opener 98-69 against College of the Ozarks.
MVC shot 31.4 percent from the floor and 84.0 percent from the free throw line, but struggled from beyond the arc, going 4-of-23 (17.4 percent).
Leading the way was Devaughna Jenkins scoring a team-high 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Andress Augsuto added 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while Rayna Smith and TaLaya Earls contributed 12 and 11 points respectively.
"I always think that having that first game and playing a team that hasn't can give them an edge," said Chapla. "They are not as bad as the score indicated, as COFO does that to a lot of teams'."
He added, "MVC is athletic, they are doing some different things on the defensive end and can get to the free throw line, so we need to guard them in the half-court and take care of the basketball, as it should be a good game."
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Anderson Arena. Â
