BATESVILLE, Ark.—The No. 3-seeded (RV) William Woods University women's basketball team will head down south for the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Tournament Semifinals on Saturday, as the Owls will take on No. 2 seed and No. 16-ranked Lyon College. Tipoff will start at 7 p.m.
The Owls (23-7; 18-6 AMC), advanced to the AMC Semifinals, after hanging on against a pesky No. 6-seeded Park University Pirates team on Wednesday night in the AMC Quarterfinals, as WWU picked up the 66-61 victory.
In the outing, the Owls shot 54.1 percent from the floor and went 22-of-25 from the free throw line. Leading the way was senior
Blake French, as the St. Charles, Missouri, native, tied her career-high with 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting and went 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Marissa Webb added 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, while
Kennedy Volkart and
Kelsey Scherder added eight points each.
With the victory, the Owls have now won seven games in a row, dating back to the end of the regular season, which concluded on February 28
th against Missouri Baptist University.
During that stretch, the team is scoring 68.7 points per game, while shooting 39.3 percent from the floor and 77.0 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, the Owls continue to be a stout team, as opponents are scoring just 56.7 points and are held to a 34.7 field goal percentage.
French has led the Owls in its last seven games, as she is averaging 14.2 points on 44.6 percent shooting from the floor and has knocked in 30-of-34 of her shots from the free throw line.
Nia Lateju, who is the teams' leading scorer on the year at 11.9 points, is scoring 10.4 during the winning streak, while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and added a team-high 11 blocked shots.
Volkart is averaging 9.1 points the last seven games and leads the team with 55 rebounds, while Destani Stensru (8.1 ppg), Scherder (7.3 ppg) and Webb (7.3 ppg) continue to be viable options in the Owls offense.
This will be the third meeting on the year between the Owls and Scots (26-5; 21-3 AMC), as Lyon was able to sweep the regular season series, winning the first meeting 52-43 at WWU back on December 18
th and followed that up with a 71-62 win over the Owls at home.
It's also the second time, since the 2012-13 season, that these two teams' will meet up in the AMC Semifinals, as two years ago, WWU went down to Lyon and defeated the Scots, 83-69, to advance to the AMC Championship game.
The Scots picked up its fourth win in a row on Friday night in the AMC Quarterfinals, as they were able to cruise past Harris-Stowe State, winning 78-58.
The team had five players reach double-figures in points and were led by Carina Jackson scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Taylor Gaedtke netted 15 points on 60 percent shooting (6-of-10), while Elliot Taylor totaled 12 points and six boards.
Taylor Grigg led the Scots off the bench, having 11 points, while Ashala Watson contributed 10 points, six of which came from the charity stripe. Jamie Jackson, meanwhile, nearly earned herself a double-double, as the guard totaled eight points and snatched down a game-high 16 rebounds.
On the season, the Scots are scoring 69.3 points per game, while defensively, they are holding teams to 55.4 points. Leading the way has been Carina Jackson's 13.2 point per game average and she has dished out 69 assists.
Gaedtke is posting up 11.8 points on a team-high 53.6 field goal percentage, while Jamie Jackson and Taylor are averaging 10.5 and 10.3 points per game.
Saturday night's game will be a battle of arguably two of the best defenses and rebounding teams' in the AMC, as the Owls are averaging 41.4 rebounds per game, while Lyon is averaging 38.3 rebounds per game.
The winner of this outing will go on to the AMC Championship game and take on No. 1-seeded Freed-Hardeman University or No. 5-seeded Columbia College. That game will tipoff at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Batesville, Arkansas.
