Lady Owls roll past AMC foe Missouri Baptist in regular-season finale

Backed by a 36-14 halftime lead, the William Woods Lady Owls closed the regular season with 63-43 AMC rout of the Missouri Baptist Lady Spartans on Saturday afternoon.

The win was the sixth in a row for the Lady Owls, which locked up the No. 3 seed and a first-round bye in this week's American Midwest Conference Tournament.

William Woods (22-7, 18-6 AMC) led by as many as 23 points in the opening 20 minutes and carried a double-digit advantage for much of the first half.

The Lady Spartans (8-20, 8-16 AMC) held a 29-27 scoring advantage after halftime.

Junior forward Nia Lateju paced the Lady Owls with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting as William Woods went 38 percent from the field (23-of-61).

Senior guard Destani Stensrud pitched in with 10 points and knocked down 2-of-3 from 3-point range.

Sophomore center Kennedy Volkart added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds to lift the Lady Owls to a 37-27 advantage on the glass.

Jasmine Jackson guided Missouri Baptist with 16 points and eight rebounds. William Woods - which swept the season series from the Lady Spartans - limited them to just 25 percent shooting (16-of-64).

Volkart closed out the regular season by earning AMC Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors. She averaged 12 points and 12.5 rebounds in two outings last week, while converting 43 percent from the floor and 86 percent of her free throws.

The Lady Owls will host either No. 6 Park or No. 11 St. Louis College of Pharmacy in an AMC quarterfinal showdown at 7 p.m. Wednesday.