Lady Owls stretch winning streak to four games

William Woods races past Missouri Baptist in 68-50 victory

The William Woods University Lady Owls used a furious first-half showing to dispatch the Missouri Baptist University Lady Spartans 68-50 in American Midwest Conference play Saturday afternoon at Anderson Arena.

William Woods (12-5, 8-4 AMC) - coming off an 84-72 upset win at No. 23 Columbia College on Thursday night - has now won four straight.

The Lady Owls opened Saturday's game by scoring the first 11 points and cruised into halftime with a commanding 42-17 lead.

Sophomore center Kennedy Volkart posted 14 points to pace William Woods, which shot 47 percent (24-of-51) from the field. Junior forward Nia Lateju finished with 10 points and tied Volkart with a team-high eight rebounds to help give the Lady Owls a 42-35 edge on the boards.

Aimee Iverson logged a game-high 17 points to guide Missouri Baptist (4-11, 4-7), which shot a sparse 29 percent (18-of-62) as a team. Jerica Hawkins notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

In Thursday night's victory at Columbia College, senior guard Dennisha Rice produced a career performance with a game-high 24 points and the Lady Owls crafted a 13-point halftime advantage in tripping the Lady Cougars.

William Woods controlled the game from the start, going up by 19 points at 41-22 when Volkart hit a pair of free throws with 4 minutes, 9 seconds to go in the first half. Columbia College closed the half with an 8-2 run, but the Lady Owls still carried a 43-30 lead into the break.

William Woods was in front by as many as 23 points in the second half before settling for the 12-point triumph.

"It's nice to see us get out to a quick start," Lady Owls head coach Dan Chapla said. "I just think our kids were focused, as I challenged them because we hadn't beaten anybody above us in the conference standings yet.

"They responded and really stepped up to the plate - so I am proud of them - and it got a little scary at the end, but our freshmen came off the bench and gave us great minutes."

Rice finished 6-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and made 8-of-10 free throws. She also passed out a team-high five assists.

"I thought she picked a great time to have a career night," Chapla said. "The thing with Dennisha is she can score, as she has shown flashes of that and sometimes kids go down during the year, so other players get to play a little more with more freedom, and I thought she stepped up in the second half and made some shots for us.

"She and Blake both came up big tonight."

Rice was one of four starters to reach double figures for William Woods, which shot 46 percent (25-of-54) from the field and weathered 17 turnovers. French connected on 7-of-11 shots in supplying 20 points, while Volkart and junior guard Marissa Webb chipped in with 10 apiece.

Volkart also shared game-high honors with nine rebounds to steer the Lady Owls to a 48-36 advantage on the boards.

"I just hope this win gives us some confidence to come out and play the rest of the year," Chapla said. "I've been talking to our players about selling out for 40 minutes and we've done that the last couple of games.

"We certainly had a wake-up call last week, but it's part of the ups and downs of the season, as I don't think we are the team we can be, but there is room to get better."

Corri Hamilton - a Fulton graduate - came off the bench to direct Columbia College with 20 points and nine rebounds. Ashley Fisher and Aqua Corpening, who were both 3-of-5 from behind the arc, tallied 15 points apiece as the Lady Cougars shot just 37 percent (26-of-71) as a team and finished with 13 turnovers.

William Woods stays at home for an AMC contest against Stephens College at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Lady Owls demolished the Stars 76-30 on Nov. 20 in Columbia.