ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team picked up its third consecutive win on Thursday night, as they never trailed once in the game and defeated St. Louis College of Pharmacy, 67-39.
The Owls (19-7; 15-6 AMC), shot 36.4 percent from the field and were led by sophomore
Kennedy Volkart, as the Russellville, Missouri, native, posted a game-high 12 points (5-of-10) and added eight rebounds.
Nia Lateju and
Veronica Jones each totaled eight points,
Marissa Webb added seven, while
Dennisha Rice,
Destani Stensrud,
Lindsey Cornelius,
Kelsey Scherder and
Kendra Vernatti contributed six points apiece. Freshman
Karinne Lane was unable to score a bucket tonight, but did dish out a career-high seven assists from the guard position.
WWU controlled the boards all night against the Eutectics (2-19; 2-20 AMC), as they outrebounded STLCOP 48-28, while defensively, the Owls forced 19 turnovers.
The Eutectics, meanwhile, shot 33.3 percent from the field and were led by the duo of Emi Santhuff and Lauren Roethemeyer, as they scored 10 points each and combined for 10 rebounds. Emily Nickles added a season-high eight points off the bench on 3-of-3 shooting.
It was all William Woods out of the gate in the first half, as they jumped out to an 18-10 advantage, after
Julia Wells knocked in her second chance bucket at the 12:05 mark.
Over the next two minutes, the Owls would go on an 8-0 run, capped off by Cornelius draining a 3-pointer off a Eutectic turnover, which extended the teams' lead out to 26-10.
With five minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the half, Santhuff hit a 3-pointer of her own, which cut the deficit down to 12 points at 30-18. The Owls offense, however, could not be slowed down and the defense stood tall the final minutes of the half, as they closed out on a 12-2 run and headed to the locker room up 42-20 on STLCOP.
WWU shot 42.2 percent from the floor in the first 20:00 minutes of play and were led by Volkart's eight points and Stensrud's six rebounds. The Eutectics, meanwhile, were limited to 36.0 percent shooting and were outrebounded 30-11 in the process.
It was more of the same story in the second half, as William Woods would push its lead out to 49-24, at the 15:22 mark, after Volkart made her two point basket off an assist from Webb. The Eutectics would go on a 6-2 run, as Nickels 3-pointer with 14:24 left on the clock, put the team down 49-30.
WWU would respond with a 15-4 run of its own, as Jones drained her 3-ponter at the 6:45 mark, which extended the Owls advantage out to its largest of the game at 64-34. The team was able to roll on from there in the final six minutes of play and earn the 28-point victory over St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
With the win, the Owls move into the No. 3 spot in the AMC standings, as they currently own a better overall record than Lindenwood-Belleville, despite having the same conference record.
The team will look for its fourth victory in a row in its final regular season home game on Saturday afternoon, as the Owls will take on Park University. Tipoff will start at 2 p.m.
At the conclusion of the women's game, the team will honor its five seniors in
Dennisha Rice,
Destani Stensrud,
Blake French,
Lindsey Cornelius and
Paige Stewart.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow afternoon for a full preview of Saturday's action.
