COLUMBIA, Mo.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will look for its fifth win in a row on Thursday night, as they travel down I-70 and take on American Midwest Conference (AMC) rival (RV) Columbia College. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
The Owls (20-7; 16-6 AMC), are coming off a wild 65-60 victory over Park University in its last time out, as they were able to erase a 17-point second half deficit and go on to collect the five point victory. With the win, for the seventh consecutive season, the team has totaled at least 20 wins on the year.
The team shot just 29.3 percent from the floor and were led by junior
Nia Lateju, as she totaled 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including going 9-of-11 from the free throw line and added six rebounds. Senior guard
Destani Stensrud had a strong game, scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and dished out a team-high four assists.
Another senior,
Blake French, entered the game against the Pirates with 987 career points and the St. Charles, Missouri, native, was able to join an elite group of women's basketball players that have totaled 1,000 points in their careers, as she finished with 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting, but did go 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Kelsey Scherder also had herself a game off the bench, collecting 11 points and added a game-high seven rebounds.
During its four game winning streak, the Owls are scoring 71.3 points per game, while defensively, they are limiting teams' to just 58.5 points and have forced 62 turnovers.
French, is posting a team-high 14.3 points during the last four games, while shooting 38.9 percent from the floor, 92.3 percent from the free throw line and has added 14 rebounds. Lateju, a Norwalk, California, native, is averaging 11.5 points, while shooting a team-high 50.0 percent from the floor and has totaled a team-high seven blocks.
Stensrud and Scherder are each averaging 8.8 points per game, while
Marissa Webb and
Kennedy Volkart are scoring 8.0 points the last four outings.
On the season, Lateju is averaging a team-high 12.2 points on 45.5 percent shooting, while French is scoring 11.6 points on a team-high 50.0 percent shooting from the floor and also leads the team with 41 steals.
Volkart is third on the team in scoring (9.6 ppg), but continues to lead the team in rebounds (161) and blocked shots (24), while Stensrud and Webb are averaging 7.6 and 7.2 points per game respectively.
This will be another tough test for the Owls against the Cougars (20-9; 16-7 AMC), as CC will be looking for redemption against WWU, when they fell back on January 15
th, inside Anderson Arena, 84-72.
After dropping three consecutive games, the Cougars have won four out of its last five, including coming off a 56-45 victory over Missouri Baptist University on February 21
st.
Against the Spartans, Columbia shot 37.9 percent from the floor and were led by the duo of Corri Hamilton and Caprese Marshall, as they combined for 30 of the 56 points. Defensively, the Cougars forced 24 Spartan turnovers and held them to a 40.0 field goal percentage.
On the season, CC is scoring 75.8 points per game and are led by Hamilton's 15.2 points on 48.9 percent shooting and team-high 193 rebounds. Aqua Corpening is averaging 13.2 points and shooting 80.3 percent from the free throw line, while Ashley Fisher is scoring 11.7 points and is hitting 45.5 percent of her shots from the floor, 43.5 percent from downtown and has added 165 rebounds.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Columbia, Missouri.
