The Lady Owls stunned the No. 9 Lady Lions when senior guard Peyton Greenlee knocked down a 3-pointer with 1 second left in a stirring AMC win Thursday night at Anderson Arena.
The victory was the third straight for William Woods University (11-4, 6-4 American Midwest Conference), which rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 5 minutes. Freed-Hardeman University suffered its second loss in a row in slipping to 10-5 overall and 7-2 in the AMC.
The Lady Owls trailed 39-33 at halftime, but outscored the Lady Lions 22-19 in the third quarter to pull within 58-55. Freed-Hardeman led by five points on three different occasions in the fourth quarter, the last time at 64-59 on Haylee Croom's basket in the paint with 4:45 to go.
William Woods closed within 68-67 after sophomore guard Rylie Cox hit a pair of free throws with :54 remaining. That set the stage for Greenlee's dramatic shot with time running out.
The Lady Lions had a chance to force overtime when the Lady Owls committed a foul after Greenlee's basket. However, KJ White missed the back end of two free throws and senior guard Ashleigh Frampton came up with the rebound to seal William Woods' breathtaking win.
Cox - who was 7-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range - logged 18 points to spark four players in double figures for the Lady Owls. Senior guard Kaycee Gerald supplied 16 points, Greenlee was next with 15 and senior guard Jazlyn Drake had 10 as William Woods shot 47 percent (27-of-58) as a team.
Gerald collected nine rebounds as the Lady Owls were outrebounded 36-31.
Croom - who hit 10-of-14 shots - tallied a game-high 24 points to direct four players in double figures for Freed-Hardeman. Reagen Floyd chipped in with 14 points, Alyssa LeMay added 13 and Chynia Brooks finished with 12 as the Lady Lions shot 46 percent (27-of-59) from the field.
William Woods hosts Williams Baptist (Ark.) University in an AMC matchup at 1 p.m. Saturday.