The No. 21 William Woods University Lady Owls had little difficulty in taking the next step in the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament.
Senior forward Rachel Baker logged a game-high 24 points and No. 2 seed William Woods shot 54 percent in humbling No. 7 Hannibal-LaGrange University 81-56 in quarterfinal play Wednesday night at Anderson Arena.
The Lady Owls (28-3) - who made 31-of-57 shots - will remain at home for a semifinal encounter against No. 3 Missouri Baptist University at 7 p.m. Friday. Missouri Baptist moved on with a 76-64 victory over No. 6 McKendree (Ill.) University in another quarterfinal game Wednesday night.
William Woods defeated Missouri Baptist twice during the regular season. The Lady Owls rolled to a 77-60 victory on Jan. 27 in St. Louis and then toppled the Lady Spartans 82-68 on Feb. 24.
William Woods encountered little resistance from Hannibal-LaGrange on Wednesday night, leading by as many as 31 points in the second half. The Lady Owls outscored the Lady Trojans by an imposing 44-20 in the paint, and senior guard Jill Sutton's team-high seven rebounds powered William Woods to a 42-30 advantage on the boards.
Baker, who also handed out a game-high seven assists, was one of three players to reach double figures for the Lady Owls, who finished with 18 turnovers. Senior forward Jestine Gerber and freshman guard Katie Scherder - who was 4-of-4 from the field, including two 3-pointers - provided 10 points apiece.
William Woods scored the game's first nine points and eventually went up 19-9 after Scherder knocked down a 3-pointer with 11 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first half. The Lady Owls followed that with a 16-4 run to widen their lead to 35-13 on Gerber's basket at the 3:59 mark.
Leading 41-20 at the break, William Woods started the second half with an 18-8 run to establish its largest advantage of the game. Another Scherder 3-pointer extended the Lady Owls' lead to 59-28 with 12:45 to play.
Kayla Hruby produced 18 points to pace three players in double figures for Hannibal-LaGrange, which ended its season with a 6-25 record. Emily Borst was next with 12 points and Natasha Bonner had 10 as the Lady Trojans shot just 33 percent (20-of-62) as a team and finished with 19 turnovers.
In Wednesday night's other quarterfinals, top-seeded Columbia College - ranked No. 14 - demolished No. 9 Harris-Stowe State University 100-56 and No. 4 Park University easily prevailed over No. 5 Williams Baptist (Ark.) College 72-53.
Columbia will host Park in Friday night's other semifinal.
•Notes: William Woods (11-18), receiving the fifth seed, travels to St. Louis tonight (tipoff at 7) to face No. 4 Harris-Stowe State University (11-19) in the quarterfinals of the AMC men's postseason tournament. The Owls lost twice to Harris-Stowe during the regular season - 82-52 on Jan. 8 in St. Louis and 61-56 in overtime on Feb. 5 in Fulton.
Tonight's winner advances to play either top-seeded McKendree (Ill.) University or No. 8 Missouri Baptist University in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Saturday. The game will be played at the site of the higher remaining seed.
Westminster baseball...............3...0
Washington University.............1...2
ST. LOUIS - Four pitchers combined on a two-hitter as the Blue Jays launched their 2011 season with a victory over the Bears in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader.
Washington gained a split after limiting Westminster College to one hit in the nightcap.
Senior right-hander Jon Simpher - the third of the Blue Jays' four pitchers to see action - threw two scoreless innings to pick up the the win in Wednesday's opener. Simpher didn't allow a hit, issued two walks and struck out one.
Sophomore right-hander Kevin Moritz worked a perfect seventh, striking out two, to record his first save of the season.
Westminster (1-1) broke a 1-1 tie when they tallied two runs in the sixth. Junior third baseman Evan White's double down the third-base line with no outs scored junior second baseman Nick Genetti. Senior shortstop Monte Gibbs then delivered a two-out single to center, bringing home White to make it 3-1.
The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the third when sophomore catcher Brandon Niederholtmeyer raced home on a wild pitch. Washington (2-2) pulled even with a run in the fourth.
Niederholtmeyer went 1-for-2 as Westminster - which left eight on base - totalled five hits. Genetti and White were both 1-for-3, while Gibbs was 1-for-4.
The Blue Jays' lone hit in the second game came on sophomore right fielder Matt Mallette's one-out infield single in the second. Westminster managed only two other baserunners; senior first baseman Andrew Jett drew a two-out walk in the fourth and senior left fielder V.J. Reynolds reached on a one-out fielder's choice in the seventh.
The Bears - who finished with only five hits - scored single runs in the first and second.
Junior starter Gary Johnson, a right-hander, pitched just two innings in suffering the loss for the Blue Jays. Johnson gave up both runs - one earned - on two hits and walked one. Westminster committed two errors.
The Blue Jays play their home opener at Saucier Field this weekend with a four-game series against Grinnell and Buena Vista.
On Saturday, Westminster faces Grinnell at 11 a.m. and Buena Vista at 5 p.m. The Blue Jays then concludes the series Sunday with games against Buena Vista and Grinnell at 1 and 4 p.m., respectively.
William Woods baseball.........3...10
Sterling College.......................4....5
STERLING, Kan. - The Owls are 4-7 on the season after splitting Tuesday's doubleheader.
William Woods University also lost to Sterling 6-4 on Monday.
Details were not available from the three-game series.
The Owls hosted a doubleheader against Missouri Valley College on Wednesday night. Results were not available at press time.