FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University women's basketball team wraps up its two-game home stand on Thursday, as they host Lyon College. Tip-off for this American Midwest Conference game, presented by United Credit Union, is set for 5:30 p.m.
William Woods (16-7, 9-6 AMC) comes into Thursday's contest on a high note, as they defeated Park University, 74-61, to reclaim fourth place in the AMC with seven conference contests remaining. Thursday will be another crucial matchup for the Owls, as they trail Lyon College (15-7, 11-3 AMC) by 3.5 games for third place in league. The Scots defeated WWU earlier this season 76-69 back on Jan. 9.
"We have to play for forty minutes on Thursday," said Head Coach Dan Chapla. "We played really well for about 30 minutes at their place earlier this season and fell short. We had a 10 minute period where we could not hit a shot, and that caused us to get beat. We cannot have any stagnant periods in the game on Thursday if we want to win.
In Saturday's game, senior Katie Scherder set a new William Woods single-game rebounding record, as she collected 25 caroms in the win. The total was five more than the school's previous best of 20, set by former Owl standout Rachel Baker back during the 2008-09 season.
Scherder was also a force to reckon with on the offensive side, as she tallied a career-high 22 points to help her team gain a half game lead over Park University for the all-important fourth seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The Bowling Green, Mo., native has stepped up her game of late, as she is averaging 12.8 points and 10.6 boards over her last five games.
One of the most consistent players this year has been Blake French. The junior is average a team-high 11.9 points per game through 15 conference games, and has tallied double-digits in the scoring column in eight of her last 11 games.
Despite the recent performance from French and Scherder, Coach Chapla says for his team to be successful for the rest of the year he will need more production from the rest of his roster.
"We have to have more than two players step up for us offensively. We need to have five-or-six players step up and have a productive game for us. It has to be a total team effort in order to beat some of these upper-level teams in this conference."
One player that Chapla is depending on is senior Andraquay Quinnine. The San Francisco native broke out of a recent slump and scored 17 points in Saturday's victory. It was her biggest point total since scoring 21 points against Williams Baptist back on Jan. 7. Despite some recent woes, Quinnine is still the team's leading scorer on the year with her 11.6 points per game average.
"When Quay has confidence she is a great player," said Chapla of his senior. "When she is shooting the ball well, she plays well. We are still trying to get her to drive a bit more and get to the free throw line, and that's something that will be key against Lyon because they play a tough man-to-man defense, and it will be tough for her to get she shot off against them."
Lyon College had a recent eight-game winning streak snapped, as they lost to No. 12 Columbia College 82-73 on Saturday afternoon.
The Scots are led by Carina Jackson's 15.6 points per game average. The Brazilian native is coming off back-to-back 20-point performances and has posted double-figures in 14 of her last 15 contests.
Point guard Ashala Watson leads the team in rebounds with her 6.3 caroms per game. The despite her 5-3 stature, she has collected seven of more rebounds in 11 games this season.
Chapla is very aware of how talented both players are, and says that containing both of them will be a key to an Owls victory.
"Jackson is a very nice player, she can pull up and shoot it from everywhere. They have six-or-seven kids that are averaging around six or more points per game, so they are getting production from everywhere. As for Watson, we have to know where she is at all times on the court. She crashes the glass so quick that it's to miss her. Her speed will be a challenge for us and we have to contain her in all aspects of the game."
Lyon College leads the all-time series 4-3, but holds a 3-1 advantage against William Woods as an AMC member. The Owls lone win against the Scots in AMC play came last year in the AMC Semifinals, as WWU knocked-off LC, 83-69.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of this and every game during the 2013-14 season.
