FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University women's basketball team captured its third American Midwest Conference (AMC) victory on the season, soaring past Hannibal-LaGrange University 70-50, Thursday night.
The Owls (8-2; 3-2 AMC), are now above the .500 mark in conference and have pushed its win streak up to three, with its second victory on the week.
After going back and forth for the first five minutes of play and seeing the score tied three different occasions, it was WWU that jumped out to a 20-12 lead, after
Kendra Vernatti sank two free throws. The Trojans would respond with two back-to-back buckets, to get within three of the Owls with less than one minute left in the first frame. Then freshman
Bailey Rollins would drive into the lane and dish off a pass to
Kelsey Scherder for a two point basket, giving WWU the 22-17 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter the Owls came out with the same mentality and commanded the final 10:00 minutes of play until half, outscoring the Lady Trojans 13-4. At the 1:28 mark, a three pointer from WWU
Kailey Morris in the corner, capped off a 9-0 run for the Owls to close the first half and give them the 35-21 lead over HLGU, heading into the locker room.
William Woods was 13-of-30 from the field, shooting a 43.3 percent, while going a 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
April Gebke and Scherder paced the half for the Owls with eight points a piece. HLGU, meanwhile, was held to just 9-of-31 from the field, shooting a 29.0 percent.
Coming out of half time, the Owls were able to hold on to its double digit advantage throughout the third quarter, as
Nia Lateju dominated the paint and recorded back-to-back baskets, to push the Owls lead out to 17, at 46-29 with 2:05 left in the third frame. The Lady Trojans leading scorer, Morgan Winkler would try to HLGU a boost of energy by hitting two big buckets down the stretch of the third quarter. However, WWU would remain composed and end the third quarter with the controlling 48-33 lead.
Heading into the final quarter of regulation, the Owls, were able to distance themselves from the Lady Trojans by extending its lead to the largest of the night at 18 and with four minutes left in the game, WWU had the 63-35 advantage.
At the end of regulation WWU grabbed and secured its second straight double digit victory of the week, with the 70-50 win over HLGU.
William Woods ended the night shooting 37.9 percent from the floor and 72.7 from the charity stripe, while the Lady Trojans closed out shooting 31.7 from the field was held to just 5-of-7 from the free throw line the entire game, illustrating a strong defensive effort from WWU.
The Owls had yet another night that four players ended in double digits, as Gebke led the team with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. The dominating post duo of Lateju and
Kennedy Volkart displayed a strong outing, which saw both record 12 points each and a combined 14 rebounds, while Scherder completed the quartet with 10 points and going 4-of-9 from the field.
The Owls return to action on Saturday, looking to make it a three game sweep on the week before the Holiday break, as the team host No. 5 ranked College of the Ozarks. Tip-off is set from 2:00 p.m.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com for a full recap and score from inside Anderson Arena.
