FULTON, Mo.—The William Woods University women's basketball team collected its fifth win in a row on Thursday night, as the Owls defeated Stephens College, 90-42.
Prior to the game, both Stephens College and the Owls participated in the Coaches vs. Cancer and Sneakers Week. In warm-ups, they wore #braelynnstrong shirts in support of Braelynn French, whom is the niece of senior women's basketball player,
Blake French.
Braelynn, one of the teams' biggest fans, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor located in the brain-stem. Fans were able make donations and proceeds from the game would go towards Braelynn, Shae French and the French family.
The Owls (13-5; 9-4 AMC), displayed another strong outing in front of the home crowd, as they shot 46.5 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent from downtown, outrebound the Stars 50-26 and forced 24 turnovers.
Leading the way on the night was
Kendra Vernatti, as the Spokane, Missouri, native, posted a game and career-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting off the bench. Junior
Nia Lateju reached the double-digit mark for the second consecutive game, having 12 points and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
In her first game back from injury,
Destani Stensrud totaled nine points and five boards off the bench, while
Marissa Webb and
Kelsey Scherder contributed seven points.
Dennisha Rice,
Kennedy Volkart and
Julia Wells, meanwhile, added six points apiece, with Wells setting a new season-high and tying her career-high with nine rebounds.
Stephens College (2-16; 2-11 AMC), shot 31.3 percent from the floor, but went 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Dana Heggemann led the way on the night for the Stars, scoring a team-high nine points, while Makayla Butler totaled eight points.
In the first half, the Owls jumped out to a commanding 20-8 advantage at the 14:36 mark, after Lateju made her two point shot in the paint. The Owls continued to roll offensively, as they extended its lead out to 37-11, after Vernatti drained a 3-pointer, with 6:13 left in the half.
Then, a two point bucket by Stensrud at the 3:22 mark, pushed the teams' lead out to its largest of the half (41-13) and from there, the Owls cruised until the first half buzzer sounded, with WWU heading into the locker room, up 46-19.
The team shot 46.2 percent from the field, outrebounded the Stars 28-14 and were led by Webb and Stensrud having seven points each.
Through the first 10:00 minutes of play in the second half, the Owls went on a 24-9 run, capped off by
Veronica Jones hitting a 3-pointer, which put the Owls up 70-28.
William Woods continued to play well offensively, while defensively, they limited the Stars to any loose ball rebounds. At the 2:42 mark,
Karinne Lane made both of her free throws, putting the team up 86-36, its largest lead of the game and they were able to go on for the 48-point victory.
After having its struggles in the second half the last two outings, the Owls put forth a strong performance in the final 20:00 minutes of play, shooting 46.9 percent from the floor.
With Saturday's game against Benedictine University at Springfield being cancelled due to the women's team forfeiting the rest of its season, the Owls will return to the court on January 29
th at Hannibal-LaGrange University. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next week for a full preview of the game against the Lady Trojans.
