FULTON, Mo. - In a rematch of last season's American Midwest Conference Tournament quarterfinal, William Woods University (6-7, 4-3 AMC) came up short in avenging that result, falling 70-60 to Stephens College (7-6, 4-3) Thursday at Anderson Arena. With WWU men's basketball's game versus Haskell Indian Nations University rescheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, Owls women's hoops had an exciting primetime tilt against their AMC rival Stars.
"Today we played really tough," William Woods women's basketball coach
Terry Nash said. "We defended well and just fell short. Proud of my group and looking forward to playing Saturday!"
A pair of starters paced William Woods on the night.
Sydney Booker posted 12 points (5-6 field goals), seven rebounds, three assists and one steal and
India Atkins notched a team-high 15 points (6-6 free throws and 3-5 3-pointers) and eight boards (game-high eight defensive) while dishing out an assist.
The Owls dug themselves into a hole early, allowing the Stars to score the game's first five points, but the hosts answered by tallying four points with no reply - Booker layup and two free throw makes from Atkins - to trim it to a 5-4 Stephens lead with 5:54 left in the first quarter. Following that, the Stars registered the following 11 points to go ahead 16-4, with LaiJanique Perry-Ellis' 3-pointer giving them that 12-point lead, the largest of the first, with 2:47 to go in the quarter. It stayed a quarter of runs, as WWU ended the first with eight unanswered points to reduce its deficit to 16-12; four Owls scored in that stretch, which included a
Peyton Dearing 3-pointer.
It remained a hard-fought first half, and William Woods went up by as much as four points in the second quarter. After Stephens furthered its lead to six points, the Owls went on an 8-2 run to tie it at 20. During that period, four players scored for The Woods, including
Noku Mundoringisa, who recorded her first two points as an Owl on a jumper from a
Jersee Wren assist to knot it at 20 with 4:41 remaining in the half. Wren turned scorer and Booker became provider, with the duo combining for the following four points, handing the Owls a 24-20 advantage with 2:07 before halftime. The Stars responded with six successive points to go up by two, but WWU evened it at 26 on Booker's layup assisted by Dearing. With just a second left in the half, Perry-Ellis landed a jumper to send Stephens up 28-26 at the break.
Another bucket-for-bucket battle occurred in the third quarter. The Stars earned two five-point leads before Atkins drained a 3-pointer and assisted a Dearing layup to make it 38-all with 5:03 on the clock. Soon after that, William Woods tied it again, at 40, on Booker's inside basket. Stephens took a 44-40 advantage with 1:46 remaining in the third, though the Owls ended the quarter in front 45-44 thanks to
Mariah Prince's end-to-end layup from her steal with 11 seconds left.
Unlike the first three quarters, one team took control in the fourth, and unfortunately for William Woods, it was the Stars. After Dearing knocked down a triple to heighten the Owls' lead to three points (47-44), Stephens went on a game-deciding 10-0 run; Syderah Farmer's layup with 9:00 to go gave the Stars the advantage for good at 48-47, and Perry-Ellis' basket inside ended the run and gave the visitors a 54-47 cushion. On William Woods' ensuing possession, Wren hit a 3-pointer, assisted by Prince, to cut it to a four-point Owls deficit - the closest they got to the Stars the rest of the way.
Those aforementioned Southern Boone standouts also stood out for WWU Thursday. Wren finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists and Prince had four points, three boards and a team-high three steals.
The Owls collected 34 rebounds (six offensive) with four second-chance points, scored 16 points off 12 forced turnovers and shot 43.8% (21-48) from the field, 81.3% (13-16) from the charity stripe and 33.3% (5-15) from deep. The Stars brought down 36 boards (13 offensive) with five second-chance points, tallied 27 points off 24 forced turnovers and made 40% (26-65) from the field, 36.8% (7-19) from 3-point range and 61.1% (11-18) at the free-throw line.
William Woods begins a two-game road trip, facing first-year AMC member Crowley's Ridge College (6-7, 1-7 AMC) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Carter Activities Center in Paragould, Arkansas.
