The William Woods women faced their latest top defense Saturday in Columbia College. They couldn't produce much offense against the Cougars.
The Owls lost their third straight game and dropped the second of their initial American Midwest Conference games with their 73-40 loss at home.
Columbia College limited William Woods to a 22.6 percentage from the floor and 7.1 percentage from beyond the arc - Katie Keilholz had the lone 3-pointer - and gave the Owls their third straight game of less than 50 points scored.
William Woods has played several top 60 NAIA defenses this season including Iowa Wesleyan (ninth), Benedictine (10th), Missouri Valley (39th), Baker (51st) Cottey (58th) and now Columbia (56th). The Owls are 3-3 in those games after Saturday's loss.
Sydney Booker led William Woods (3-8, 0-2 AMC) in scoring with her 12 points, while Kasey Hazell added eight points and seven rebounds. Columbia College (9-3, 2-0 AMC) had three players score in double figures, as Mallory Shetley had a game-high 16 points while two Cougars had standout bench performances. Peyton Crowe had a game-high 18 points in 25 minutes played, and South Callaway graduate DeLaney Horstman had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in 12 minutes played.
Columbia College began the game with a 13-2 run, where William Woods had a streak of five straight misses. Booker eventually found Amaya Keeling for a layup at 2:43 left in the first before Jheda Kennedy received quickly added another layup after an Olivia Hanks steal. The Cougars still had a 20-8 lead after one.
The Owls allowed five Columbia College points in the second quarter before breaking the run with a Kiyanna Rodgers jumper at 8:35. William Woods ended the first half with a 7-2 run for a Columbia College 33-22 halftime lead. Shetley led the Cougars by scoring 16 of her points.
The third quarter is where the Columbia College bench really started hurting the Owls as Crowe had eight straight points and then Horstman got involved with her first bucket at 5:08 for a 45-26 Cougar lead. Crowe had 14 points in the period, and Horstman had eight while William Woods had two baskets from Keilholz and Hazell.
Arriyon Phillips had a couple of good jumpers in the fourth quarter before 6:28 mark, and the Owls remained quite from the field the rest of the game.
The schedule doesn't get easier for William Woods, as it plays an exhibition game at 1 p.m. Saturday at NCAA Division II Missouri S&T and then visits No. 7 Central Methodist for a 1 p.m. game Dec. 31.