FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University women's basketball team will try to extend its winning streak to three games, as they entertain Park University on Saturday afternoon for its annual Court Warming Game. Tip-off from Anderson Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Saturday will also be Military Appreciation Day at William Woods. Free admission will be available for all active and former military members.
This AMC contest is a critical for both squads in terms of conference positioning, as William Woods (15-7; 8-6 AMC) trails Park University (10-9; 8-5 AMC) by just a half game for fourth place. The spot is an extremely important one in the conference tournament, as the team owning the fourth seed will get to host a first round game.
Head Coach Dan Chapla is aware of the Saturday's importance, and knows that the Lady Pirates will be a tough team to knock-off.
"Park is a team that really gets after you defensive. They are very aggressive on that side of the floor, and it caused us a lot of trouble at their place earlier this season, and allowed them to beat us. I've told our girls that every game from here on out is important, but we must have that one game at a time mentality and not get ahead of ourselves."
The Lady Pirates defeated William Woods, 65-58, back on Jan. 4. Chapla says that Saturday's contest will not be a revenge-type contest, but he is hoping his team has learned a lesson from its previous loss to Park.
"We had a four-point lead with three minutes to go, and we turned it over four times over that stretch and really sealed the deal for us. Credit them for being able to make us make mistakes, but we have to take better care of the ball on Saturday, and if we turn it over 25 times, then we have no chance of winning against a team that is as aggressive as Park."
The Owls come into Saturday's affair on a two-game winning streak, thanks in large part to Blake French's offensive performance.
After suffering back-to-back 30-plus point losses to No. 2 Freed-Hardeman and No. 14 Columbia College, Coach Chapla challenged his players to step up offensively, and told his team that they needed that go-to-type-scorer. French has rose to the occasion since then, as she has put together back-to-back stellar performances, which includes a career-high 21-point effort against Williams Baptist, followed by an 18-point night her last time out in a win at Harris-Stowe.
"Blake has been our most consistent player since day one," Chapla said of his shooting guard. "She has really picked up her play of late, and has been that spark for us. She can get to the rim, when she is open she is a threat from three, knows how to get to the line, and really runs well in transition. It is vital for us that she keeps her high-level of play up tomorrow against a quality Park team."
Park University comes into Saturday's contest on a two-game losing streak, as they have dropped a pair of contest to Lyon College (76-64) and Columbia College (79-58) to snap its four-game winning streak.
The Lady Pirates are led by Channell Mackey, who is averaging 15.7 points per game and has posted double-digits in scoring in each of her last eight games.
Coach Chapla is aware of how dangerous Mackey is, as she scored 22 points, collected eight rebounds, and handed out five assists back on the Jan. 4 victory for her team.
"She is a really tough matchup for us. She is a decent shooter, but she attacks the rim so well and it will be hard for some of our players to contain that. We will have to put different people on her, and maybe give her a couple of different defensive looks to throw her out of rhythm. It will be a total team-effort on her defensively on Saturday."
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of this and every game during the 2013-14 season.
