FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University Women's Basketball team looks for its third straight victory Thursday night as they host Harris-Stowe State University in American Midwest Conference (AMC) Quarterfinal action. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
The Owls (21-9, 16-8 AMC) won its second straight contest on Saturday afternoon with a 64-59, victory over then No. 7 Columbia College. The win moved the Owls to fourth place in the AMC standings.
Late in the third quarter against Columbia, the Owls trailed by 11 points, 50-39, however, William woods scored the last seven points of the third quarter.
Bailey Rollins hit a three-pointer and was fouled and she hit the free throw for a four point play during the stretch helping the Owls close the gap.
The Owls defense came up big in the fourth quarter as they only allowed the Cougars to score nine points in the quarter. Trailing by three, 57-54, the Owls went on a 10-2 run that gave them the lead and the victory over Columbia. Rollins and
April Gebke led the way for the Owls with 13 points in the contest.
On the season, the Owls are posting 65.8 points per game, while hitting 39.6 percent of its shots from the floor and are outrebounding its opponents 1,293-1,119. WWU is collecting 43.1 rebounds per game, which is 12th best in the nation. On the defensive side of the ball, the Owls are only allowing teams to shot 34.1 percent from the floor, the fourth best in the nation. On the glass, WWU has three players averaging more than 6.5 rebounds per game.
Senior
Nia Lateju paces the offense thus far, averaging 11.5 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting and is second on the team in rebounds (207). Volkart is right behind Lateju, scoring 10.5 points per game, while coming in third on the team in rebounds (205).
Junior duo of
April Gebke and
Kelsey Scherder are both scoring just under nine points a game (8.6 ppg) and (8.0 ppg), respectively. Senior
Julia Wells continues to lead the team in rebounds with 226 on the year, while her 3.4 offensive rebounds per game, ranks her No. 17 in NAIA.
Harris-Stowe, (18-12, 16-8 AMC), are coming off an 80-71 defeat to Lyon college on Saturday February, 27th. Angela Randall led the way for the Hornets with 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting. She was one of three players who scored in double-figures. Harris-Stowe shot 38 percent from the floor in the contest.
On the season, Randall is leading the Hornets in scoring as she is averaging 12.0 points per game. Cierra Stanciel rounds out the double-figure scorer averaging 10.9 points per game. Harris-Stowe is shooting 38 percent from the floor. The Hornets find themselves ranked ninth in the nation in three-point field goal defense as they are only allowing teams to shoot 27 percent from behind the arc.
William Woods and Harris-Stowe split the season series this year as each team won on the road. In the last meeting on January 30th, Harris-Stowe came away with a 78-70 victory over WWU. Monae Riley led the way for the Hornets victory with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Harris-Stowe shot 50 percent in the second half of the contest. The Owls were led by Lateju, who scored 14 points. WWU scored 26 bench points and 30 points in the paint in the loss.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score from Anderson Arena.
