FULTON, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will look for its sixth consecutive win on Thursday evening, as the Owls welcome Hannibal-LaGrange University to Anderson Arena. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
The Owls (6-1; 2-0 AMC), are coming off a dominating performance against Benedictine University at Springfield back on November 22
nd, as 15 players scored a minimum of two points and the team went on for the 98-31 win, which is its largest margin of victory on the year.
"I am just happy that everybody got the chance to play and contribute," said head coach
Dan Chapla. "Now going forward, that's only going to help us, as some of those players' will see some minutes down the road."
The team shot 50.0 percent from the field, 39.1 percent downtown and 81.3 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, the Owls continued its strong play, as they held the Bulldogs to a field goal percentage of 28.8, while forcing 24 turnovers.
Individually, freshman
Nikki Callahan led all scorers, as the Maryland Heights, Missouri, native, recorded her first collegiate double-double, scoring a career-high 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting and added 10 boards.
Paige Stewart totaled a season-high 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while
Grace Wade netted a career-high 10 points and added six rebounds, giving her 15 the last two games.
Destani Stensrud totaled nine points and a team-high three steals, while
Blake French and
Kendra Vernatti contributed eight points each. Freshman
Karinne Lane added a career-high seven points off the bench, while coming off her 17-point performance against Stephens,
Veronica Jones added seven points as well.
During its five-game winning streak, the Owls have been stellar on both ends of the floor, averaging 81.8 points and shooting 45.7 percent from the field on off the offensive side of the ball, while on defense, its consistent pressure has limited its foes to just 56.2 points and a field goal percentage of 34.9.
"I think the last two games' have skewed our numbers a little bit, but we will take it," said Chapla. "I still think we need to get better defensively, while offensively we have had several players' step up, which is always a good sign."
Nia Lateju, a Norwalk, California, native, is averaging 12.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game the last five outings, while hitting 50.0 percent of her shots from the field. French, meanwhile, is scoring 11.8 points per game and holds a team-high 58.8 field goal percentage.
Three Rivers Community College transfer,
Marissa Webb, is scoring 9.2 points, while
Kennedy Volkart is putting up 8.8 points per game, shooting 52.9 percent from the field and has totaled a team-high 25 rebounds (5.0 rpg).
On the season, the Owls are scoring 77.9 points, while holding its opponents to 58.3 points per game, which is 24
th best in the NAIA.
French is averaging 12.0 points per game on a team-high 56.0 shooting percentage from the floor, while hitting 91.7 percent of her shots from the charity-stripe, which is fourth-best in the NAIA. Lateju is second on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and rebounds (34), while Webb is scoring 10.1 points per game and is draining 52.0 percent of her shots from downtown, ranking her sixth overall in the NAIA.
The Lady Trojans (1-5; 1-1 AMC), meanwhile, have had a rough start to the 2014-15 campaign, dropping five of its first six games, including a tough 96-91 overtime loss against William Penn on November 29
th in its last time out.
Four players reached double-figures for HLG and they were led by Ashleigh Hurd-Spencer, scoring a career-high 42 points on 15-of-30 shooting from the field and added 14 rebounds. Morgan Winkler and Sarah Cline contributed 14 points, while Kelsie Smith totaled 11.
The teams' last victory was back on November 22
nd, where they collected its first AMC victory against Missouri Baptist University, as they defeated the Spartans 65-59.
On the season, Hurd-Spencer leads the team with a 23.3 points per game average, which is fourth-best in the NAIA. She also leads HLG in field goal percentage (44.9), three-point percentage (37.5), rebounds (39), rebounds per game (9.5) and blocks (five).
"She (Hurd-Spencer) is one of the best players in the league," Chapla said. "She is a four-year senior and I think they are better than their record indicates, so we just have to be ready to play. My biggest fear is we haven't played in 12 days and we just need to get the rust off against a team that has the potential to beat you."
He added, "Hurd-Spencer can get her average, but we will need to contain the other players' and not let her get a 30-point night, which she is capable of."
Winkler is second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.0 points and is hitting a team-high 85.7 percent from the free-throw line, while Cline is scoring 11.7 points and has dished out a team-high 18 assists.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Anderson Arena.
