HANNIBAL, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will look for its seventh consecutive victory on Thursday night, as the Owls clash with the Hannibal-LaGrange University Lady Trojans. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
The Owls (14-5; 10-4 AMC), collected a forfeit victory over Benedictine University at Springfield on January 24
th, as the Lady Bulldogs forfeited the rest of its season.
This will be the first time the team returns to the court since January 22
nd, when the Owls put on a dominating performance in front of the home crowd, as they defeated Stephens College, 90-42. Junior
Kendra Vernatti led the team on the night, scoring a game and career-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting off the bench.
During its six game winning streak, William Woods, is averaging 75.0 points per game, shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and are outrebounding its opponents 246-155. Defensively, the Owls are holding teams to a mere 50.2 points and a field goal percentage of 31.3 percent.
Kennedy Volkart (9.4 ppg),
Dennisha Rice (9.2 ppg) and
Nia Lateju (9.2 ppg) are pacing the offense the last six games, with Lateju shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, while Rice is hitting 46.9 percent of her shots, including going 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from downtown.
Vernatti is averaging 8.4 points per game to go along with 12 assists, while
Blake French and
Marissa Webb are scoring 7.8 and 7.0 points per game respectively.
On the season, the Owls are scoring 71.7 points per game, and are led by Lateju's 12.0 point per game average, while the junior is also shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and is second on the team in rebounds, having 102.
French, a St. Charles, Missouri, native, is scoring 11.1 points and continues to shoot the ball well from the floor, draining 53.7 percent of her shots. She is also shooting 79.6 percent from the free throw line and leads the Owls with 30 steals.
Volkart is scoring 9.4 points, but leads the team in rebounds (111) and blocked shots (22), while Webb is averaging 7.8 points and is shooting 42.0 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from the three point arc.
The last time these two teams' met was back on December 4
th, when the Owls defeated the Lady Trojans (7-11; 7-7 AMC), 72-55 inside Anderson Arena. In that outing, WWU shot 48.2 percent from the floor and had four players reach double-figures in points, led by Lateju, scoring 17 on 7-of-11 shooting.
French and Volkart contributed 13 points, while
Destani Stensrud added 10 points and a game-high four assists.
HLG, meanwhile, is 3-2 in its last five games, including snapping its two game skid in its last time out, as they defeated Missouri Baptist University, 66-57.
Ashleigh Hurd-Spencer led the way for the Lady Trojans, scoring a game-high 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting and added a game-high 10 rebounds. Sarah Cline totaled 13 points, while Morgan Winkler added 11.
On the season, HLG is scoring 69.1 points, with Hurd-Spencer leading the charge, averaging an eye-popping 21.9 points per game, while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor, 87.4 percent from the free throw line and has grabbed down 145 rebounds.
Winkler is second on the team in points per game (14.7) and is shooting 46.0 percent from the field, while Cline is posting 12.6 points through 18 games thus far.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Hannibal, Mo.
