FULTON, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team continued its winning ways on Thursday night, as the Owls extended its win streak to six games after defeating Hannibal-LaGrange University, 72-55.
"I thought we played really well in the first half," said head coach
Dan Chapla. "We had some breakdowns in the second half and we talked about that at the end of the game, but certainly I am happy anytime you get a win in this league."
On offense, William Woods (7-1; 3-0 AMC) shot 48.2 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from downtown and 70.0 percent from the charity-stripe. Ten players were able to record at least two points in the game, making it three straight outings that 10 or more players have recorded at minimum two points.
Junior transfer
Nia Lateju scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor, while
Kennedy Volkart and
Blake French each added 13.
Destani Stensrud was the fourth Owl to collect double-figure points, having 10 points and a team-high four assists.
It was another quality defensive effort from the Owls, as they limited the Lady Trojans (1-6; 1-2 AMC) to 41.8 percent shooting from the floor and a mere 8.3 three-point percentage.
Ashleigh Hurd-Spencer, who scored 42 points in her last game, led HLG with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor, but was kept quiet in the first half, having just six.
"I thought we did a really good job in the first half guarding her, but she is just really crafty when she catches the ball around the bucket," said Chapla.
After early back-and-forth action, the Owls held a14-10 advantage at the 12:42 mark, after Emma Penn came up with the basket for the Lady Trojans.
That, however, would be the teams' final basket for quite some time, as the Owls defense stepped up and in the process on offense, they went on a 12-0 run, capped off by French hitting her two-pointer in the paint, giving WWU a 26-10 lead with 6:39 remaining.
Hannibal-LaGrange was able to break the Owls run on its next possession, as Kelsie Smith made her two-point shot, but the Owls offense continued to roll, as they pushed its lead out to its largest of the half at 37-18 with .24 seconds left, as freshman
Karinne Lane hit a three-pointer.
Hurd-Spencer responded with a two point basket of her own with .05 seconds left, but William Woods still headed to the locker room up, 37-20.
WWU shot 50.0 percent (17-of-34) from the field in the first 20:00 minutes of play, while the defense limited HLG to just 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from the floor and forced 12 turnovers. Â
In the second half, the WWU offense continued to stay hot, as they extended its lead out to 56-32, after Lateju hit a three-pointer at the 13:30 mark.
Hannibal-LaGrange was able to cut the deficit down to 18 points (62-44) with 7:25 left in the game, but the Owls got the lead back up to 23 points (67-44), after Volkart went 2-of-2 from the free-throw line and the Owls were able to go on for the 17-point victory.
"Particularly in the first half and some stretches in the second half, we played much better defensively," said Chapla. "They've been averaging 70 points per game and we held them to 55, so it was a good team defensive effort tonight."
The Owls will have a quick turnaround in its search for its seventh win in a row, as they travel to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and take on Williams Baptist College on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff will start at 2 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow afternoon for a full preview of Saturday's action.
