Box Score
FULTON, Mo. -- A 14-0 run midway through the second half helped Lyon College defeat the William Woods University women's basketball team, 52-47, in Anderson Arena on Thursday night.
William Woods (16-8, 9-7 AMC) held a game-high eight point lead at the 16:17 mark of the second half, yet Lyon College (16-7,12-3 AMC) was able to recover from the deficit thanks to an elongated run to give them a 35-29 lead. The Owls would fight back and pull within two points on several different occasions, but could never get over the hump, as the Scots sweep the season series between the two schools.
"This was a very hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams," said Head Coach Dan Chapla after the game. "I told our kids at halftime that this game was a street fight and they have to be ready for it. The refs let us play a lot, which is fine, but you have to credit Lyon on being able to make key plays down the stretch. They are a very good team, and tonight they showed it."
The loss drops WWU back into fifth place in the American Midwest Conference thanks to Park University's win 73-49 win over Harris-Stowe earlier tonight. The Owls fall half game behind the Lady Pirates for the coveted fourth seed in the AMC Tournament with five contests remaining in the regular season.
Andraquay Quinnine followed her 17-point performance from Saturday with an 18-point effort in the loss. The senior guard hit four of the Owls five three point field goals on the night, as she went 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
Quinnine was the only WWU player that scored double-figures on the night, as her team shot just 35 percent from the floor. Chapla was upset with the execution of his team down the stretch, and stressed that he needed more from his roster to win these type of games.
"I didn't think we made a lot of good decisions towards the end of the game tonight," he said. "We need to find players who can play in the game's final five minutes and not make turnovers. It's already been hard enough for us to score points here recently. Quay had a really nice game, but I like I said before the game, we need more than just one or two players to show up for us on the offensive side of the ball if we want to beat teams like Lyon."
Defensively, William Woods held Lyon College to 52 points on 37 percent from the field and forced 13 Scot miscues on the night.
The Owls jumped out to a 4-2 lead early in the game, but Lyon College would hold WWU scoreless for nearly five minutes, as they went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead with 10:53 remaining in the half.
William Woods fought back to take a 14-12 lead at the 2:06 mark after a Stephanie Copelin layup.
The Scots tied the game back up at 17-17, but a Kennedy Volkart basket and a Katie Scherder free throw gaves WWU a 20-17 lead to go into the break.
The Owls went on a 9-4 run to open the second frame, as they took a game-high eight point lead at 29-21. Lyon College responded with a 14-0 spurt to turn its deficit into a six-point advantage at 35-29 with 13:05 remaining in the game.
Both teams went cold from that point, as neither could manage to hit a shot over the next five minutes of game play. Destani Stenrud finally ended the silence with a jumper, and another Owl basket pulled them with in two at 35-33.
From that point, Lyon College would go on a 5-0 spurt pushing its lead to a game-high seven points with 5:40 left in the contest. William Woods kept battling back, and pulled back within two after a Scherder three-point play, but the Scots had an answer to every Owls bucket and took the 52-47 road win.
William Woods returns to action of Saturday afternoon, as they take to the road to face Missouri Baptist University. The Lady Spartans defeated the Owls earlier this season in Anderson Arena, and Coach Chapla knows that his squad will face a confident MBU team on Saturday.
"We have to bounce back from this loss. We go play a team that has already beat us this season, and the fact it was in our place will give them more confidence against us. We have to play better defense than we did against them here. If we do that then I would like to think we can hang in there and it be close again down the stretch."
Tip-off for this crucial AMC contest in St. Louis is set for 2 p.m.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of this and every game during the 2013-14 season.
