CONWAY Ark. - William Woods (9-7, 3-4 AMC) found its shooting stroke in an 81-66 victory over Central Baptist College (3-10, 2-6 AMC) on Thursday night. Woods shot 50 percent or better in all four quarters of the contest, highlighted by a 11-16 (68.75 percent) third quarter.
Natalie Thomas led all scorers with 24 points and was one of four Owls in double figures.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for much of the first quarter before Woods pulled ahead with 3:05 remaining.
Mariah Prince sank a layup to go up 11-10 and Woods never gave up the lead after that. WWU led 17-10 after the first and took a 33-25 lead into the half.
In a dominant quarter where the Owls outscored CBC 30-17, WWU shot 4-8 from three-point range to extend its lead to 63-42 heading to the fourth.
CBC applied pressure defensively for much of the fourth and managed to cut the Owl lead down to 12 at 73-61 with 1:36 remaining. A three pointer by
Peyton Dearing on the next possession ended the comeback effort from the Mustangs.
Thomas had a dominant shooting night for the Owls, (7-10 FG, 3-4 3PT, 7-7 FT) with
Jersee Wren adding 14 points, and
Sydney Booker grabbing 12 points and 9 rebounds. Dearing scored a career high 12 points off the bench.
The Owls shot a blistering 58% from the field and were 9-22 from three-point range while holding CBC to 3-21 from distance. WWU improves to 3-4 in conference play and will travel to Walnut Ridge, Ark., on Saturday to take on Williams Baptist University at 1 p.m.
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