Lady Owls drop fourth straight AMC contest

The William Woods University Lady Owls shot a dreadful 25 percent in the first half and trailed by 13 points at halftime in suffering their fourth straight AMC loss, 69-62 to Harris-Stowe State University on Tuesday night at Anderson Arena.

William Woods never led in the contest and connected on just 7-of-28 shots in the first 20 minutes, going into halftime down 31-18. The Lady Owls found themselves behind by as many as 19 points in the second half before attempting to rally.

William Woods (8-5, 4-4 American Midwest Conference) twice closed within four points, the latter time at 56-52 on a basket in the lane by senior guard Paige Stewart with 4 minutes, 20 seconds to play. Senior guard Blake French's 3-pointer with 1:31 left made it 65-60, but that would be as close as the Lady Owls would get.

French - who was 6-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc - tallied 15 points to pace three players in double figures for William Woods, which shot just 36 percent (23-of-64) for the game and committed 20 turnovers. Junior forward Nia Lateju followed with 13 points and sophomore center Kennedy Volkart added 11.

Lateju grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as the Lady Owls were outrebounded by a slight 44-40 margin. William Woods was outscored 34-24 in the paint.

The Lady Owls were also victimized by a 31-point outburst from Harris-Stowe's Mia Wesley, who made 13-of-30 shots but only 3-of-11 tries from 3-point range. Leah Hamilton tallied 11 points for the Lady Hornets (5-7, 4-4), who shot 42 percent (26-of-62) as a team and had 18 turnovers.

William Woods will try to halt its slide when it hosts AMC foe Saint Louis College of Pharmacy at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Anderson Arena.