The William Woods University Lady Owls will get a third chance to try and take down Freed-Hardeman.
No. 4 seed William Woods outscored No. 5 Park 8-0 over the final 53 seconds Wednesday night as the Lady Owls pulled out a 71-63 victory in a quarterfinal game of the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament at Anderson Arena.
With the win, William Woods (22-9) moves on to a semifinal matchup at top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Freed-Hardeman University at 7 p.m. Friday in Henderson, Tenn. The Lady Lions (30-1) advanced with an 86-55 rout of No. 8 seed Missouri Baptist University in quarterfinal play Wednesday night.
The Lady Owls dropped both of their meetings with Freed-Hardeman during the regular season, but in vastly different outcomes. The Lady Lions roughed up William Woods 94-57 on Jan. 25 in Fulton, but the Lady Owls staged a remarkable second-half rally before bowing in a narrow 71-68 loss at Freed-Hardeman in last Saturday's regular-season finale.
William Woods owned a slim 31-28 advantage at halftime Wednesday night and led for a majority of the second half. Park, though, tied the contest for the seventh time when Sydney Heard knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 63-all with 1:11 to play. Junior guard Blake French answered with a conventional three-point play on the Lady Owls' next trip down the floor to put them back in front to stay with :53 remaining.
Senior guard Andraquay Quinnine then put the wraps on William Woods' win by making 5-of-6 free throws in the last :32.