FULTON, Mo. - After earning the game's only double-digit leads, the largest being 18 points (47-29 - 6:03 left in the third quarter), William Woods University (7-12, 5-8 American Midwest Conference) dropped a heartbreaking 66-61 decision to University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis (5-15, 5-9) Thursday at Anderson Arena.
"Tough game today," William Woods women's basketball coach
Terry Nash said. "In college basketball, you need to play a complete 40 minutes of basketball, and we did not do that today."
Guiding the Owls on the night were
India Atkins with 15 points, seven rebounds, four steals (game-high) and three assists,
Sydney Booker with 11 points, nine boards and four assists (game-high) and
Mariah Prince with eight points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Another standout for WWU - offensively -
Peyton Dearing went a perfect 5-5 at the free-throw line for five of her 15 points.
In a back-and-forth first quarter, there were four lead changes and four ties before a quarter-ending run in The Woods' favor gave it a seven-point advantage. To earn that lead, the Owls went on a 10-1 run, with Atkins' layup starting it and tying it at 10 and Dearing's three-point play capping it and giving WWU an 18-11 lead after one quarter.
The Eutectics responded with a 9-2 run to open the second quarter, knotting it at 20. Then, William Woods fired back with 10 unanswered points, with five Owls scoring two apiece in that time. To begin the hot stretch, Prince made a layup, followed by a
Jersee Wren inside bucket, Atkins jumper, Booker basket in the paint and two free throws made by Dearing to conclude the run, which put the Owls up 30-20. UHSP had a 5-2 run to cut it to a 32-25 WWU lead at halftime.
After letting the Eutectics get within reach of them a few times in the first half, the Owls knew they needed to get their lead up to a more comfortable margin. WWU did that in the third quarter, opening the floodgates with a 14-4 run, increasing the Owls' lead to a game-high 18 points. Booker did the bulk of her scoring in that stretch, posting six points on two layups and two free throw makes, and Prince had two buckets during it, her swished shot in the post from an Atkins assist giving The Woods its largest lead at 47-29 with 6:03 to go in the third quarter. UHSP worked up some magic in a vial, striking back with an 18-1 run to even it at 48. However, Atkins landed a 3-pointer to put WWU up by three after three quarters.
Unfortunately for the Owls, the Eutectics registered the first seven points of the fourth quarter, taking the lead for good in that time on Arianna Buduan's 3-pointer that made it 53-51 UHSP with 8:22 left. The Eutectics outscored WWU 13-10 following that run to end the contest. Playing a large part in the Owls' inability to come back, they couldn't maintain their 50% field goal percentage (7-14) in the third quarter, shooting 23.08% (3-13) in the fourth.
For the game, William Woods brought down 34 rebounds (nine offensive) with 10 second-chance points, tallied 11 points off 18 forced turnovers and made 38.7% (24-62) from the field, 14.3% (3-21) from 3-point range and 90.9% (10-11) at the charity stripe. UHSP collected 43 rebounds (13 offensive) with eight second-chance points, scored 19 points off 17 forced turnovers and converted 41.9% (26-62) from the field, 42.9% (6-14) from deep and 53.3% (8-15) at the line.
The Owls will wrap up their three-game week by facing Harris-Stowe State University (5-14, 4-10 AMC) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Emerson Performance Center in St. Louis. WWU looks to sweep the season series after beating the Hornets 83-56 on Dec. 7 in Fulton.Â
