One poor offensive stretch made the William Woods University Lady Owls' remarkable winning streak past tense.
William Woods was outscored by No. 11 Lyon (Ark.) College 21-8 in the third quarter and the Lady Owls' 11-game winning streak came to an end in a 62-56 AMC loss Saturday at Anderson Arena.
William Woods - which was swept by Lyon in the season series - slipped to 19-5 overall and 13-5 in the American Midwest Conference after suffering its first home loss this season. The Lady Owls had already clinched a spot in the AMC postseason tournament with their 67-51 victory over Central Baptist (Ark.) College on Thursday night at Anderson Arena.
Saturday's win was the sixth in a row for Lyon, which improved to 21-2 overall and 17-1 in the AMC.
William Woods was on top 16-15 after one quarter and outscored the Lady Scots 15-9 in the second quarter to carry a 31-24 advantage into halftime. The third quarter, though, proved to be a nightmare for the Lady Owls from the start.
Lyon came out strong with nine unanswered points, taking a 33-31 lead on Liz Henderson's basket in the paint with 6 minutes, 50 seconds left in the quarter. The Lady Scots eventually went up 45-39 when Madison Riley buried a 3-pointer with :39 to go in the period.
Lyon led by as many as 11 points on six different occasions in the fourth quarter, the last time at 61-50 on Katie Turner's basket in the lane with 1:56 remaining.
Senior guard Kaycee Gerald knocked down 3s on consecutive possessions to quickly bring William Woods within 61-56 with :59 to play, but that would be as close as the Lady Owls would get.
Gerald was 9-of-13 from the field - hitting all five of her 3-point attempts - to spark William Woods with a game-high 23 points. Senior guard Jazlyn Drake came off the bench to supply 11 points for the Lady Owls, who shot 44 percent (22-of-50) as a team.
Senior guard Peyton Greenlee and sophomore forward Kasey Hazell split game honors with six rebounds apiece to steer William Woods to a 35-27 edge on the boards.
Henderson and Turner finished with 15 points each to pace Lyon, which shot 43 percent (26-of-60) from the field. Riley added 14 points.
The Lady Owls will look to get back on track when they travel to St. Louis to square off against Harris-Stowe State University in an AMC contest at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. William Woods defeated Harris-Stowe 69-61 on Dec. 3 in Fulton.