Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Mariah Prince scored a season-, team-high 15 points on 6-8 field goal and 3-3 3-point shooting for William Woods University (11-17, 9-13 American Midwest Conference) as the Owls played their last-ever AMC regular season game and lost 67-54 to Mission University (21-5, 18-4) Saturday at W.E. Dowell Fieldhouse.

"Today we needed a better effort in the third quarter," William Woods women's basketball coach Terry Nash said. "We played hard enough but lost a little focus offensively with moving the ball. At the end of the day, it is a blessing to make the conference tournament. We are excited to play more games. There are a lot of teams that are not playing after today, so we are grateful for that!"

Joining Prince in double figures scoring for WWU, India Atkins tallied 11 points (4-4 free throws), five boards and two steals. The Owls also had productive outings from fellow starters Sydney Booker with a co-team-high nine rebounds and eight points and Peyton Dearing with nine points (4-4 free throws), eight boards, two assists and one steal.

A pair of Owls came off the bench and did well as Ruthie Brown scored all seven of their bench points and tacked on six boards, and Katie Keilholz pulled down a career-, co-team-high nine rebounds.

Although William Woods let the Patriots take a 15-4 lead with 5:15 left in the first quarter, the Owls responded with 12 unanswered points between late in the first and early in the second to go up 16-15. During that run, WWU went 5-6 at the free-throw line, and Dearing had seven points (one 3-pointer) with her layup giving the Owls their aforementioned advantage with 9:06 remaining in the second.

William Woods maintained its strong performance throughout the second, scoring its most points out of any quarter (19) and taking its largest lead (eight points). The Owls answered to work to that advantage, firing up seven unanswered points to break a 19-all tie. That WWU run began with a Jersee Wren 3-pointer assisted by Dearing and ended with back-to-back Brown baskets inside. While the Owls didn't get to their eight-point lead yet, they did a few minutes later, using a 7-2 run from Prince, who hit two layups and drained a 3-pointer in between them to send WWU ahead 33-25 with 1:30 until halftime. Mission landed a buzzer-beating triple to trim the Owls' lead to 33-28 at the break.

Booker opened the second half scoring, swishing in a layup off a Prince defensive rebound to increase WWU's lead to 35-28. However, MU gained the lead for good at 36-35 with 7:43 to go in the third quarter on a layup during its 12-point with no reply run. Once they made that game-deciding bucket, the Patriots outscored the Owls 16-8 to end the third.

In the fourth quarter, William Woods trailed by double digits throughout. Prince drilled a 3-pointer to finish off her season-high 15-point display, and Booker scored the Owls' final four points, her last two on a jumper with 52 seconds to go. That made it 65-54 MU. The Patriots converted a second-chance jumper on their ensuing drive, the game's final bucket, as the Owls lost by 13 points.

William Woods tied its season-high in rebounds with 53 (17 offensive) and had 13 second-chance points, tallied six points off 10 forced turnovers and shot 27.3% (18-66) from the field, 24% (6-25) from 3-point range and 85.7% (12-14) at the line. Mission brought down 43 boards (12 offensive) with 13 second-chance points, scored 16 points off 18 forced turnovers and made 38.4% (28-73) from the field, 29.4% (5-17) from deep and 60% (6-10) at the stripe.

Despite finishing the regular season with two fewer wins and three more losses than a campaign ago, the Owls did better on the road this year with an 8-5 record - four more victories and four fewer defeats than in 2023-24.

No. 6 seed William Woods won't have to think about a different opponent, facing No. 3 seed Mission University again for the third time this season in the AMC Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals, hosted by Williams Baptist University at 2:15 p.m. Friday at Southerland-Mabee Center in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. 

Beating a team three times in one season can be tricky in any sport, and the Owls look to avoid being on the losing end of that and seek the all-important win over the Patriots. Unlike Saturday's matchup, it was a close result when WWU hosted MU, with the Owls falling 70-65 to the Patriots on Jan. 18 in Fulton.