FULTON, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team picked up a huge American Midwest Conference (AMC) victory on Saturday afternoon, as they defeated Lindenwood University-Belleville, 77-65.
The Owls (17-7; 13-6 AMC), shot 49.1 percent from the floor, 50.0 percent from downtown and 78.3 percent from the free throw line against the Lady Lynx (15-11; 14-6 AMC).
Leading the way offensively for the Owls was
Kelsey Scherder, as the Bowling Green, Missouri, native, recorded a career-high 13 points off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting in just under 16:00 minutes of play.
Sophomore
Kennedy Volkart went 6-of-6 from the free throw line, as she finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, while the guard play of
Destani Stensrud and
Dennisha Rice scored 11 and 10 points respectively and combined for eight assists.
Senior
Blake French tallied nine points and two steals, while
Julia Wells also scored nine points and added a career-high 10 rebounds.
Nia Lateju scored eight points, but had herself a game defensively, as she blocked a career-high six shots, on the afternoon.
LU-Belleville, meanwhile, shot 44.9 percent and were led by Shelby Kohrmann's game-high 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting and went 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Kindra Brown and Stephanie Cathcart also reached double-figures in points, as the duo scored 10 points each.
In the first half, the game was tied 11-11 at the 10:33 mark, after Kohrmann made both of her free throw attempts. Then, at the 10:05 mark, Scherder gave the Owls a 13-11 lead, after scoring a two point bucket off an assist from
Marissa Webb, which all was made possible by Stensrud defensively, as she forced a Lady Lynx turnover.
From there, the Owls would go on to score the next seven points, capped off by Webb's two-pointer, which gave the team a 20-11 advantage, with 6:32 left in the half.
The Lady Lynx, however, would respond with a 7-0 run of its own over the next two minutes, as Gabriela Mendonca made her two point shot, which put LU-Belleville down just two (20-18).
William Woods would push its lead back out to seven points with just over a minute to go, at 30-23, after Volkart made her two-pointer off another Lady Lynx turnover, but Lindenwood-Belleville, closed out the half on a 5-0 run, as Brown made her two point shot in the paint, which put the team down 30-28 at the half.
The Owls shot 38.5 percent in the first half, but went 9-of-9 from the free throw line. The team was led by Volkart's 10 points and six boards, while LU-Belleville shot 40.0 percent from the field and were led by Brown's eight points.
Despite LU-Belleville shooting 50.0 percent in the second half, WWU could now be slowed down from either inside or outside the arc, as they shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) and 85.7 (6-of-7) from downtown in the final 20:00 minutes of play.
At the 16:39 mark of the second half, the Owls were up 45-36, after Volkart made both of her free throws, but over the next two minutes of action, the Lady Lynx rattled off a 7-0 run, as Kohrmann capped it off with the old-fashioned three point play, which put them down 45-43, with 14:30 left on the scoreboard.
Then, it was the Scherder show after that, as the sophomore forward drained three consecutive three-pointers, which extended the Owls lead to 54-43 at the 12:06 mark and forced LU-Belleville to take a timeout.
The Lady Lynx would narrow its deficit down to five (54-49), after Jasmine Gibbs-Brown scored her two point shot in the paint with 8:44 to go, but in just two minutes time, the Owls would gain the breathing room back it needed, as Lateju's two-pointer put the Owls up 61-50.
It was all William Woods from there on out, as they were able to stretch its lead out to its largest of the game, at 77-61, with .57 seconds left and they were able to go on for the 12-point victory.
With the win, the Owls are now just .5 games out of the third spot in the AMC standings behind Lindenwood-Belleville.
The team will look for its second win in a row on the road next week, as they look for redemption against Harris-Stowe State University on February 17
th. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next Monday for a full preview of Tuesday's action.
