BELLEVILLE, Ill.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team returns to American Midwest Conference (AMC) play on Saturday afternoon, as the Owls pay a visit to Lindenwood University-Belleville. Tipoff will start at 2 p.m.
In an amazing gesture by the Lindenwood-Belleville Athletics Department, all money from the admissions and concessions for the game Saturday will be donated to Braelynn and Shae French.
Senior
Blake French and the French family found out earlier this summer that a brain tumor was located in her three year old niece, Braelynn.
"On behalf of the women's basketball team and the French family, we want to thank Lindenwood-Belleville for their awesome support of Braelynn in her fight against this awful disease," said head coach
Dan Chapla.
After coming off a 77-40 defeat in an exhibition game against Southeast Missouri State University on December 30
th, this will be the Owls first regular season game since December 18
th, when they fell against No. 23-ranked Lyon College, 52-43.
Against the Redhawks of Southeast, WWU was limited to 24.2 percent shooting from the floor, and were led by junior
Nia Lateju, scoring a team-high 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting and added nine rebounds.
Dennisha Rice scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting, while
Marissa Webb contributed six.
On the season, the Owls are putting up 71.1 points, shooting 42.7 percent from the field, 35.0 percent from the three point arc, 71.8 percent from the free throw line and have outrebounded its opponents, 464-391.
Lateju has had a strong start to the season, averaging a team-high 12.5 points per game, hitting 45.5 percent of her shots from the floor and is second on the team in rebounds (51).
French, a St. Charles, Missouri, native, is second on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg), but is draining a team-high 56.1 percent of her shots from the floor and currently ranks fourth in the NAIA in free throw percentage (90.6).
Volkart is posting 9.5 points per game and leads the team in rebounds, having 66, while Webb is averaging 8.2 points and is hitting a team-high 44.7 percent of her shots from downtown, which is 13
th best in the NAIA.
As a team, the Owls rank in the top 25 in seven different categories according to the NAIA, including 10
th in three point field goal percentage defense (25.4), 12
th in free throw percentage (71.8), 13
th in defensive rebounds per game (30.2), 15
th in three point field goal percentage (35.0), 21
st in total rebound defense (35.5), 22
nd in three point field goals made per game (6.3) and 25
th in field goal percentage (42.7).
The Owls are a perfect 6-0 against Lindenwood-Belleville (4-7; 3-2 AMC), including defeating the Lady Lynx last year, 82-75 in the first meeting and 63-49 in the finale. Now in its first season in the AMC, the Lady Lynx are 3-3 in its last six games, including coming off a 77-59 defeat against Columbia College.
Lindenwood-Belleville shot 30.8 percent from the field against the Cougars and were led by Kindra Brown having a team-high 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Shelby Kohrmann added 11, while Torre Kohrmann totaled 10 points.
"We have a tough road game to begin 2015," said Chapla. "We had two close games with them last year and they have pretty much the same players, including one of the best three point shooters in the country."
He added, "They are also coming off a great road win at Park, so we will have to play well in order to have a chance."
On the season, the Lady Lynx are totaling 72.3 points per game and are led by Shelby Kohrmann averaging a team-high 19.2 points, while shooting 44.5 percent from the field, 44.8 percent from downtown and 81.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Torre Kohrmann is second on the team, averaging 10.6 points off the bench on 51.8 percent shooting, while Jasmine Gibbs-Brown is draining a team-high 54.3 percent of her shots, while averaging 10.1 points.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com on Saturday afternoon for a full recap and score from Lindenwood-Belleville.
