UPDATE: The women's basketball season comes to an end for William Woods University with a 71-34 loss to Vanguard in the NAIA Division I women's national quarterfinals Saturday night. The team concludes its season with a record of 22-12.
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BILLINGS, Mont. - The William Woods University Lady Owls had another surprise in store Friday night, revealing this one in the form of a white-knuckle rally.
William Woods wiped out an 18-point third-quarter deficit and senior forward Kelsey Scherder capped off the crazy comeback by burying a 3-pointer with 1 second to play, sending the Lady Owls to a stirring 64-61 win over 19th-ranked John Brown (Ark.) University late Friday night in the second round of the NAIA Division I women's national championship.
A No. 8 seed which received the 17th and final at-large bid to the tournament, William Woods advanced to the NAIA quarterfinals for the first time in school history. The Lady Owls (22-11) face No. 2 seed Vanguard (Calif.) (29-3) late Saturday night at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark. Results were not available at press time.
Vanguard - tied with Oklahoma City for the No. 5 ranking in NAIA - reached the quarterfinals with a 71-65 victory over No. 3 seed Montanta State-Northern in Friday night's final game.
William Woods opened play Thursday night with the most stunning win of the national tournament so far, taking down top-seeded, third-ranked Shawnee State (Ohio) 88-85. With another breathtaking victory Friday night, the Lady Owls became only the second No. 8 seed to make it to the quarterfinals since the tournament went to its current seeding format in 2003.
"I'm extremely proud of everyone that has played a part in this," William Woods head coach Dan Chapla said. "This team never quit. They just kept scraping and finally got a little momentum in the fourth quarter.
"I just couldn't be more proud of a young group of women."
The Lady Owls trailed 52-44 entering the fourth quarter, but responded with a 12-2 run to take their first lead of the game. Freshman guard Kaycee Gerald made two free throws at the 6:53 mark to tie the game and then sophomore guard Bailey Rollins scored off a John Brown turnover to put William Woods on top 56-54 with 6:18 left.
Both teams were scoreless for a little more than 2 minutes before Preslea Reece's basket in the paint pulled the No. 5 seed Golden Eagles even with 4:14 to play. The Lady Owls regained the lead when Gerald scored on their next possession, but Reece countered again to tie the game at 58-all at the 3:03 mark.
Baily Cameron connected on a 3 with 1:22 remaining to give John Brown the edge, but William Woods freshman guard Peyton Greenlee dropped in a trey to square the contest at 61-all with :49 to go. Rollins then came up with a steal and the Lady Owls called a timeout with :17 left.
Gerald patiently worked the clock down, circled the perimeter on the right and drove the baseline under the basket, pitching the ball out to Scherder on the left wing. Scherder took Gerald's pass, squared her shoulders and coolly sunk the decisive 3.
"I've had All-Americans, I've had better players, but I've never had a better clutch player than Kelsey Scherder," Chapla said. "That last play was designed specifically for her and she stepped up to the plate and knocked it down."
John Brown was able to call a timeout before the buzzer sounded, but Kodee Powell's 3-point attempt to force overtime fell short as time finally expired.
William Woods constantly found itself battling from behind Friday night. The expiration date on the Lady Owls' season appeared to be fast approaching when the Golden Eagles tallied the game's first 14 points.
Senior center Kennedy Volkart hit a 15-foot jumper to finally put William Woods on the scoreboard with 6:14 left in the first quarter. John Brown eventually led 17-2, but the Lady Owls calmed down on offense and closed the quarter with a 17-6 run to get back into the contest. Rollins' 3 with :14 remaining brought William Woods within 23-19.
The Golden Eagles extended their lead back to 11 points and carried a 38-29 advantage into the break after both teams went scoreless over the final 2:35 of the first half.
The Lady Owls' stay at the national tournament really seemed to be slipping away in the third quarter. John Brown piled on the first nine points of the period, opening up a 47-29 edge on Reece's 3 at the 5:39 mark.
Volkart interrupted the run by hitting a pair of free throws with 5:24 to go, but William Woods didn't score from the field in the quarter until Greenlee's basket at the 4:03 mark to make it 49-33. That invigorated the Lady Owls, who punctuated the period with a 13-3 run to trim their deficit to eight points and set the stage for their frenzied fourth-quarter comeback.
"I just told them to keep focused," Chapla said. "I thought we were trying to do things a little too quickly."
Scherder - who finished with five of William Woods' 12 3s - supplied 19 points to direct the Lady Owls, who prevailed despite shooting just 33 percent (22-of-66) from the field. Greenlee delivered all 17 of her points in the second half, including 11 during the Lady Owls' critical run to close the third quarter.
Rollins and Volkart added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Greenlee shared game honors by grabbing a team-high eight rebounds as William Woods was edged on the boards 36-31.
Cameron - who had four 3s - topped John Brown (23-9) with a game-high 21 points. Luize Skrastina contributed 13 points and Reece had 11 as the Golden Eagles shot 41 percent (24-of-58) as a team.
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