FULTON, Mo. – Freshman Peyton Greenlee led the William Woods University women's basketball past Williams Baptist College, 73-67, on Thursday evening at Anderson Arena. Greenlee led the Owls with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting in the victory.
 
Following Greenlee in scoring was freshman Kaycee Gerald with 16 points. April Gebke rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points in the contest. Gerald led the Owls with seven rebounds. The win for the Owls is its 18th victory of the season.
 
WWU returns to action on Saturday, February 18th when they host NAIA No. 1 Freed-Hardeman University. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, is senior day and the Owls seniors will be honored after the contest
 
Game Flow
WWU came out firing to open the contest as April Gebke and Peyton Greenlee led the way early for the Owls as they combined to score the first nine points of the contest. After the first two minutes and 15 seconds, the Owls led 9-0. Williams Baptist continued to battle and trimmed the lead down to six, 16-10, after a jumper by Tashanescii Walker. By the end of the first quarter, the Owls lead was down to three, 21-18.
 
It looked as if the Owls would grow its lead to open the second quarter, but the Lady Eagles came back and took its first lead of the contest after a Tia Brazell jumper. After both teams traded buckets, the Owls found themselves down 26-25, with 5:20 left in the second quarter. For the remainder of the half, the Owls held the Lady Eagles scoreless and went on a 13-0 run that was capped by a Gerald layup. Heading into halftime the Owls led, 38-26.
 
William Woods came out in the second half and grew the lead to 17, 47-30, after a three-pointer by April Gebke. Williams Baptist continued to battle and after a three-point play by Andrea Moffitt, the Owls lead was down to 13 points, 48-35. WWU answered by closing the quarter on a 11-4 run extending its lead to 59-39, after three quarters of play.
 
Leading by 20 to start the fourth, Jess Schmidt hit a pair of free-throws growing the lead to 22, before the Lady Eagles started to mount a comeback. With the help of the Owls shooting going cold, Williams Baptist cut the lead down to 11 points, 66-55, with 3:26 left in the game after a Taylor Williams three. The Owls lead continued to shrink and after a Alytruis Perry three, the lead was down to five points, 70-65. That would be as close as they would get and the Owls would come away with a 73-67 victory.
 
By the Numbers
22 – Peyton Greenlee led the Owls with 22 points on Thursday
3 – WWU had three players score in double-figures
40.3 – The Owls shot 40.3 percent from the floor in the contest
30 – William Woods scored 30 points in the paint
13 – WWU's bench scored 13 points in the win
7 – WWU hit seven three-pointers
7 – Kaycee Gerald led the Owls with seven rebounds
8 – The Owls had eight steals in the contest
13 – WWU forced the Lady Eagles into 13 turnovers