FULTON, Mo. – The fourth quarter comeback attempt by the William Woods University women's basketball team came up short as they Owls were defeated, 66-63, by No. 24 Lindenwood University-Belleville on Tuesday night at Anderson Arena. The loss for the Owls snaps its seven-game winning streak.
 
Junior Jasmine Brown led the Owls with 24 points on 9-of-23 shooting. She also led the team with 13 rebounds to collect a double-double in the contest. Kelsey Scherder followed with 14 points while Kennedy Volkart rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12. WWU shot 41.4 percent from the floor for the game.
 
William Woods returns to action on Thursday, January 5th when they travel to Williams Baptist College. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
 
Game Flow
The Lynx jumped out to a fast start over the Owls in the first quarter as they scored six of the first seven points of the contest. WWU battled back cutting the lead down to two, 8-6, after a Kelsey Scherder three-pointer. However, Lindenwood-Belleville closed out the first quarter on a 13-3 run and the Owls trailed by 12, 21-9 after one quarter of play.
 
Within the first two minutes of the second half, the Lynx lead was stretched to 15 points, 28-13, after a jumper by Viveca Nwagbaraocha. Lindenwood-Belleville continued to slowly exented the lead as a jumper by Brianna Mueller put the Lynx ahead 35-18, with 4:09 left in the half. WWU answered with an 7-2 run over the next three minutes trimming the lead down to 12, 37-25. That would be as close as the Owls would get in the first half as the Lynx would take a 14 point, 41-27, lead into halftime.
 
WWU came out on fire in the third quarter as the 14-point lead was trimmed to six points, 41-35, over the first two minute of the quarter. During that two-minute stretch, Brown scored four points for the Owls. Lindenwood-Belleville slowly grew the lead back to 12 points, 50-38, after a Mueller jumper. The Owls continued to battle as they had the lead down to nine points, 50-41, with 1:41 left in the quarter. However, WWU did not score again and the Lynx hit a jumper and WWU found itself down, 52-41, after three quarters of play.
 
William Woods scored the first four points in the fourth quarter as Kennedy Volkart hit back to back jumpers trimming the lead down to seven points, 52-45. However, the lead again was stretched back to double-figures by the Lynx and again the Owls had an answer as they began to slowly chip away but each run the Owls made a run, the Lynx answered right back. With 4:02 left in the game, the Owls found itself down 11, 64-53. WWU closed the game on a 10-2 run. With 1:33 left, Scherder hit a three-pointer putting the Owls down three, 64-61. Twenty seconds later Kaycee Gerald hit a jumper putting the Owls down one, 64-63. That would be as close as the Owls would get as Alison Webb hit two free throws putting the Owls ahead by three and an April Gebke three-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer and the Owls seven game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night. The Owls were defeated 66-63 to No. 24 Lindenwood-Belleville.
 
By the Numbers
11 – WWU outscored the Lynx by 11 points in the second half
24 – Jasmine Brown led the Owls with 24 points
13 – Brown also grabbed 13 rebounds in the loss
13 – WWU committed 13 turnovers in the contest
3 – William Woods had three players score in double-figures
4 – WWU shot 4-of-17 from behind the arc
41.4 – The Owls shot 41.4 percent from the field.
15 – WWU collected 15 assists in the game led by a trio of Owls with four
30 – WWU scored 30 points in the paint