PARKVILLE, Mo. -
Mariah Prince recorded her first double-double for William Woods University (0-1) with a career-high 12 rebounds and a team-high 11 points as the Owls fought back in the second half of a season-opening 64-57 loss to future conference opponent (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene University (1-0) on Day 1 of the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational Friday at Breckon Sports Center.
While the final result didn't show it, the Owls had to overcome a slow start against the Pioneers, who've qualified for the NAIA National Tournament three of the last four seasons. MNU jumped out to a 14-4 lead with 3:21 left in the first quarter after Keona Schenck went 2-2 at the free throw line. From there, the Pioneers remained in front by double digits for the remainder of the first, outside of one possession when newcomer
Kaedence Gipson landed a layup for her first bucket as an Owl to make it 16-7 MNU with 2:18 to go in the quarter. After that, the Pioneers outscored WWU 8-5 to end the first quarter.
More of the same occurred in the second quarter, as MidAmerica Nazarene furthered its advantage to 20 points (38-18) on Mackenzie Manthe's layup with 1:17 left in the first half. The Owls'
Sydney Booker scored the final point of the first half when she made the second of two free throws to make it 38-19 Pioneers at halftime.
While MNU only had one more rebound (20-19) than WWU in the first half, the real difference was the Pioneers going 13-31 (41.9 percent) compared to the Owls' 5-25 (20 percent). Knowing it needed to make more shots to stay in it, William Woods flipped a switch in the second half and went 14-27 (51.9 percent) from the field, while MidAmerica Nazarene went 8-35 (22.9 percent).
In the third, the Owls' deficit was as small as eight points with 48 seconds left in the quarter. WWU went on an extended 9-0 run that lasted 1:49 to make that happen.
Peyton Dearing's 3-pointer with 2:37 remaining in the third began the Owls' scoring surge, followed by
Jersee Wren going 2-2 from the charity stripe, Prince making a jumper and
India Atkins getting a layup to fall, which ended it and made it 47-39 Pioneers.
Heading into the fourth quarter, MidAmerica Nazarene held a 49-39 lead, and the Owls made sure the Pioneers' lead wasn't comfortable, instead raising their nerves. Trailing 56-45, WWU went on an 8-1 run to reduce its deficit to four points, with Gipson scoring the first three points on a layup and a free throw and Atkins finishing it with a layup to put it at 57-53 with 2:20 remaining. After MNU increased its advantage to six points, Atkins converted two free throws to bring it back to a four-point game (59-55) with 1:10 to go, but that was the closest The Woods got.
In addition to Prince, the Owls had strong performances from Booker with 10 points (nine points in the second half) and nine rebounds and Atkins with 10 points and seven boards.
William Woods recorded 40 rebounds (nine offensive), forced 11 turnovers and went 19-52 (36.5 percent) from the field, 1-10 (10 percent) beyond the arc and 18-27 (66.7 percent) at the free throw line, while MidAmerica Nazarene collected 40 boards (14 offensive), forced 19 turnovers and converted 21-66 (31.8 percent) from the field, 4-24 (16.7 percent) from deep and 18-25 (72 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Owls face host Park University (0-1) for their final contest of the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational at 4 p.m. Saturday.
