FULTON, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team was able to erase a 17-point second half deficit against Park University on Saturday afternoon and go on for the thrilling 65-60 victory on Senior Day.
"We've had some great wins here in my seven years, but that is the best comeback which I've been a part of," said head coach
Dan Chapla. "I'm extremely proud of the team, but you got to give credit to Park, as we knew they were going to be tough and they played better than us for 27:00 minutes, but then we made plays, got some momentum and it just snowballed from there."
He added, "I've seen it before, but I'm proud of our kids for hanging in there."
The Owls (20-7; 16-6 AMC), shot 29.3 percent from the field, but went 28-of-35 (80.0 percent) from the free throw line, including getting to the charity stripe 22 times in the second half and making 17 of those attempts.
Junior
Nia Lateju led the offense, scoring a game-high 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting and added six boards. Seniors
Blake French and
Destani Stensrud contributed 13 points each, while
Kelsey Scherder came up huge off the bench, totaling 11 points.
Entering tonight's game, French had totaled 987 points in her collegiate career and with her 13-point outing tonight, she joins an illustrious class of women's basketball players to total 1,000 points in their careers.
"Blake (French) has been a special kid for us, as she is a great person number one and has come to be one of the better guards that has played here," said Chapla. "Her stats may not show it, but all around what she has given this program, is tremendous and I've been very fortunate to coach her."
Park University (13-12; 12-10 AMC), shot 34.9 percent from the field and were led by Channell Mackey totaling 17 points on 8-of-23 shooting. Jordan Brown added 11 points, while Latice Butler just missed a double-double, as she totaled eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Sydney Heard also dominated the boards, as she had 10 to go along with four points.
In the first half, at the 11:15 mark, it was the Pirates jumping out to a 17-10 advantage, after Lauren Maclin made her two point bucket in the paint. Lateju, would cut the lead down to 19-17, with 7:57 remaining in the half, after knocking in both of her free throws, but over the next two minutes, Park would go on a 6-0 run, capped off by Mackey's two point basket.
The Owls would respond on its next possession, as Scherder drained her 3-pointer, off an assist from Stensrud, which put the score at 23-20, with 5:20 left. The Pirates, however, would continue to maintain its marginal lead as the clock continued to tick down and before the buzzer sounded, Mackey scored a two-pointer off an Owls turnover with .32 seconds left, which gave Park a 33-28 lead heading into the break.
The Owls shot just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from the field in the first half, but did go 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Park, meanwhile, shot 40.0 percent (12-of-30) and were led by Mackey's 11 points and two assists.
Things did not start out in the second half the way WWU would have liked, as nearly five minutes in, Park went on a 12-0 run, capped off by Amanda Laurenceau's second chance two point basket, which gave the Pirates a 45-28 lead.
The Owls offense then got going, as they rattled off a 12-4 run, capped off by Stensrud's two point basket, which narrowed the lead down to just 49-40 with 10:41 left in regulation. At the 6:26 mark,
Marissa Webb connected on her 3-pointer, which brought the fans inside Anderson Arena to its feet, as WWU was down only 52-49.
With just under four minutes left, Lateju was able to tie the game for the first time all afternoon, as she went 1-of-2 from the free throw line. The two teams' would flip-flop lead changes, but the Owls still trailed 56-55, with 2:32 left.
Then, a defensive foul by Park, sent Scherder to the free throw line and she connected on both of her free throws, which gave WWU a 57-56 lead with just two minutes and 10 seconds left in the game. After Lateju went 1-of-2 from the charity-stripe, the biggest shot of the game came from Scherder, as she drained her 3-pointer, off an assist from Stensrud, which gave the team its largest lead of the game, at 61-56, with .49 seconds remaining.
Despite the late push from the Pirates, William Woods was able to hold on in a wild fashion and earn an impressive five point victory over Park.
"It goes to show in this game that you can never quit, as we had some players step up for us tonight, as Kelsey gave us a big lift and she has been doing that this past month," said Chapla. "Destani played really well and Blake didn't have a great game, but we were still able to find a way. I'm still not sure that we've put it all together when all nine of our kids are playing well, but more than anything it shows we can preserve and good teams do that."
At the conclusion of the game, the team honored its five seniors in
Dennisha Rice,
Destani Stensrud,
Blake French,
Lindsey Cornelius and
Paige Stewart.
With the win, the Owls pick up its 20
th win on the year, making it now seven consecutive seasons the team has won at least 20 games.
William Woods will return to action on February 26
th, as they will travel down I-70 and take on rival Columbia College. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next week for a full preview of Thursday's action.
