BATESVILLE, Ark.—The (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will look for its ninth win a row on Thursday night, as they look to upset No. 18-ranked Lyon College. Tipoff will start at 5:30 p.m.
The Owls (16-5; 12-4 AMC), picked up its eighth win in a row against Williams Baptist College in its last time out, as they defeated the Lady Eagles, 71-64, inside Anderson Arena.
WWU only shot 32.8 percent from the floor, but made the necessary shots when needed, while defensively, they forced 18 WBC turnovers.
Leading the way was senior
Blake French, as the St. Charles, Missouri, native, scored a game-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds. Junior
Nia Lateju totaled 14 points and eight rebounds, while
Dennisha Rice was the final Owl to score in double-figures, as the Poplar Bluff, Missouri, native, contributed 10 points.
During its season-high eight game winning streak, the Owls offense is scoring 74.4 points per game and are shooting 41.0 percent from the floor. Defensively, meanwhile, they are limiting teams' to just 54.4 points and a field goal percentage of 34.6 percent. The team has also outrebounded its foes 314-234 and have forced 121 turnovers, while holding themselves to 94.
Lateju, a Norwalk, California, native, is posting 11.3 points during the winning streak, while shooting 46.6 percent from the field, 77.8 percent from the free throw line and has grabbed down 43 boards.
French, is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.0 points, while shooting 72.4 percent from the charity stripe and has added a team-high 11 steals. In her three games back from injury thus far,
Destani Stensrud has made a quick impact, as the Exeter, Missouri, native, is also averaging 10.0 points and has knocked in 50.0 percent (11-of-22) of her shots.
Sophomore
Kennedy Volkart is scoring 9.9 points, while grabbing down a team-high 50 rebounds and blocking nine shots. Rice, is averaging 8.9 points from the point guard position and has dished out a team-high 22 assists.
On the season, William Woods is averaging 71.8 points and are led by the duo of Lateju and French, as they are scoring 12.4 and 11.5 points per game respectively. Volkart is averaging 9.6 points, while junior transfer
Marissa Webb is scoring 7.6 points per game.
William Woods will be looking for redemption against a Scots (18-4; 14-2 AMC) team, that defeated the Owls back on December 18
th, in Fulton, Missouri, 52-43.
Both teams shot under 31.0 percent in the outing, while after Lyon led WWU 35-26 at the half, both squads were held to just 17 points each in the second half.
Lyon College has been red-hot since the end of November, as they have won 15 out of its last 16 games, with its lone blemish coming against No. 1-ranked Freed-Hardeman University, where they fell, 72-61.
The team is currently on a seven game winning streak, as they are coming off a 73-56 victory over Missouri Baptist University on January 31
st.
The Scots shot 51.9 percent from the field and were led by Carina Jackson's 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting, while Elliot Taylor added 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
On the year, Lyon is scoring 67.4 points per game, while defensively, teams' are scoring just 54.5 points and are held to a field goal percentage of 37.6 percent.
Jackson has paced the offense through 22 games, averaging 12.9 points, while hitting 81.4 percent of her shots from the free throw line and has dished out 52 assists. Taylor Gaedtke is second on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg) and is draining an astounding 53.9 percent of her shots from the field and leads the Scots with 134 rebounds.
Jamie Jackson has totaled 117 rebounds to go along with her 9.8 point per game average, while Taylor is right behind J. Jackson, scoring 9.6 points and is shooting a team-high 55.8 percent from the field.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Arkansas.
