FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University women's basketball team couldn't hold onto the momentum in the fourth quarter, as the Owls fell 64-61 in the final seconds to the No. 17-ranked Lyon College, on Thursday night.
The Owls (4-1; 0-1 AMC), suffered its first loss on the season in heart breaking fashion, as the team controlled most of the game, fending off the hungry Scots, in hopes to pull an upset in its American Midwest Conference (AMC) season opener.
In the first quarter, it was WWU that jumped out to an early 17-7 lead, after
Nia Lateju sank both her shots from the free throw line, at the 3:58 mark. The Scots, would then battle back and cut the Owls lead down to two points with 1:40 left in the first quarter, after converting on a 5-0 run.
As the first quarter was coming to an end,
Kennedy Volkart would put the Owls back up 22-16, as she grabbed an offensive rebound off the glass and the put back for two points.
Lyon College came out in the second quarter looking to break the red hot offensive surge from the Owls, putting the defensive pressure on WWU by full court pressing, saw the Scots take the 23-22 lead, an Owls turnover and steal from Jamie Jackson, who went all the way to the basket and capitalized with a two pointer.
The Owls, however, regained the momentum after putting together a 7-0 run, and pushed its lead back up to 33-26 and they would maintain the advantage as the horn sounded for the completion of the first half, heading into the locker room with the seven point lead over the Scots.
At the half, WWU shot 50.0 percent from the floor (15-for-30) and was led by
Marissa Webb with nine points. Meanwhile, Lyon College converted on 30.8 percent from the floor, but was an impressive 9-of-12 from the charity stripe, as Jackson guided the Scots, also with nine points.
Coming out of halftime, the Owls picked up right where they left off and extended is lead to its largest of the night at 15 (49-34), after Lateju drained a three pointer. It was all WWU in the third quarter, as the Owls held onto its double-digit lead and outscored the Scots 19-14 and headed into the final frame, up by 12.
As the offense had been remarkable all night for the Owls, the fourth quarter it changed cold, as the Scots proved they were not going down without a fight and came out on a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, cutting the Owls lead down to one (56-55) at the 3:53 mark.
Then with another steal from Lyon College's guard Jamie Jackson, the Scots took the 57-56 lead, although next trip down the court Webb, showed great relentless as she miss a two pointer but hustled to get her own rebound and was fouled on the put back, sending her to the line shooting two, with just under three minutes left to play. The senior guard, converted from the charity stripe, cashing in both shots to put the Owls back up 58-57.
Shortly after,
Julia Wells drove down the line and found
Kelsey Scherder open along the baseline, as she kicked the ball out for Schreder to nail a huge three pointer, putting WWU up 61-59. With less than a minute left in regulation, Lyon College came down and called a timeout to draw up a play.
After the timeout, the Scots would get an open look inside the paint and then an offensive rebound and put back from Jackson would knot the game up with .39 seconds left.
Despite its valiant effort, the Owls missed a shot with .20 seconds left, letting Lyon College come down the floor and with time winding down, Sarah Elkins drained her shot from beyond the arc on the wing, securing the Scots the 64-61 come from behind win.
William Woods ended the night shooting a 41.8 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from the three point line, while Lyon College closed out shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and 28.6 from downtown. However, arguably the deciding factor of the match-up was Lyon College outscored the Owls 22-7 in the fourth quarter and forced WWU to commit an uncharacteristic 21 turnovers on the night.
The Owls had four players reach double figures on the night, leading the way was Scherder who recorded 13 points, then Webb ended the night with 11 points, going 4-for-10 from the field, while Lateju and Kendra Vernatii each chipped in 10 points a piece. Wells, also had a strong display, grabbing a team-high nine boards and three assists, along with four points.
WWU is back in action on Saturday at the team will look to capture its first AMC win of the season with a match-up against AMC newcomer Central Baptist College at 2:00 p.m.
Fans check back on wwuowls.com for a full preview of this game.
