FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University Women's Basketball team returns to for its eighth straight NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship appearance when they play Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) on Wednesday at 1:45 at the Silverstein Eye Center Arena in Independence, Mo.
 
The Owls (21-10) earned the host berth after finishing fourth in the American Midwest Conference (AMC). WWU is coming off a 57-53 loss to Harris-Stowe State University in the AMC Quarterfinals. The Owls raced out to a quick lead in the first quarter as they scored the first 13 points of the contest, and led by 18-3 in the first quarter. WWU grew the lead to 32-18 at halftime, but the Owls could not hold onto the lead as the Hornets slowly mounted a comeback and HSSU held the Owls to one point for the last 4:20 of the fourth quarter and the Owls were defeated 57-53.

On the season, the Owls are posting 65.4 points per game, while hitting 39.4 percent of its shots from the floor and are outrebounding its opponents 1,342-1,164. WWU is collecting 43.1 rebounds per game, which is 10th best in the nation. On the defensive side of the ball, the Owls are only allowing teams to shot 33.9 percent from the floor, the third best in the nation. The Owls only allow opponents to shoot 25.4 percent from behind the arc, which is best defensive three-point percent in the NAIA. On the glass, WWU has three players averaging more than 6.9 rebounds per game.

Senior Nia Lateju paces the offense thus far, averaging 11.2 points per game on 40.9 percent shooting and is second on the team in rebounds (214). Volkart is right behind Lateju, scoring 10.3 points per game, while coming in third on the team in rebounds (213).

Junior duo of April Gebke and Kelsey Scherder are both scoring just under nine points a game (8.9 ppg) and (8.0 ppg), respectively. Senior Julia Wells continues to lead the team in rebounds with 239 on the year, while her 3.5 offensive rebounds per game, ranks her No. 13 in NAIA.

Our Lady of the Lake enters the championship for the fifth straight year as they received an automatic berth after winning the 2015-16 regular season and 2016 Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Saints are the number one overall seed of the championship and they hold a record of 29-2 on the season and are currently on a 29-game winning streak. The Saints defeated Huston-Tillotson University, 102-80 in the Red River Athletic Conference Championship game. The Saints came into the National Championship as the top seed in the championship.
 
On the season, Taylor Hamilton leads the Saints in scoring as she averages 16.8 points per game. Hamilton is coming off a season-high 34 points performance against Huston-Tilloston in the Red River Championship game. She was 7-of-16 from the floor and made 20-of-23 free throws in the contest. Hamilton has scored 20 or more points 10 times this season.
 
Following Hamilton is Alyssa Ward who is averaging 11.0 points per game. Hamilton and Ward are the only Saint players that are aveaging in double figures on the season. Sonji Green, a 6-foot center, leads the team in rebounding as she averaging 9.0 rebounds per game. On the season she has 14 games where she collected 10 or more rebounds with a season best 20 rebounds coming against Tarleton State University on Nov. 18th.
 
The Saints are averaging an NAIA best 83.6 points per game on the season and are outscoring teams by 26 points per game. Not only does the Saints score but they rank second in total steals (469) and steals per game (15.1). Our Lady of the Lake has made 246 three pointers on the season, sixth best in the NAIA and have made 7.9 three-pointers per game, the sixth best in the NAIA.

Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship.