BATESVILLE, Ark. - The William Woods University Lady Owls basketball team was unable to survive a dreadful start.
Top-seeded Lyon College scored the game's first 18 points en route to a 71-45 romp over No. 4 William Woods in the semifinals of the American Midwest Conference Championship on Saturday.
The No. 25 Lady Owls (25-7) missed their first 10 shots and didn't score until there was 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the first quarter. Still, William Woods ended the period on an 11-4 run to make it 22-11.
The Lady Owls then outscored No. 11 Lyon 16-13 in the second quarter to pull within 35-27 at halftime. The Lady Scots (29-2), though, carried a 51-38 advantage into the fourth quarter and pulled away by outscoring William Woods 20-7 over the last 10 minutes.
Senior guard Kaycee Gerald was 7-of-13 from the field in producing 18 points as the only player to reach double figures for the Lady Owls, who shot a woeful 27 percent (15-of-56) as a team. Senior guard Peyton Greenlee and sophomore guard Rylie Cox were next with seven points apiece.
Greenlee pulled down a team-high seven rebounds as William Woods was outrebounded 42-36.
Liz Henderson countered with a game-high 24 points to guide Lyon, which shot 44 percent (27-of-62) from the field. Jade Giron added 19 points.
The Lady Scots will host No. 2 seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University (26-6) for the AMC Championship at 7 p.m. Tuesday. No. 14 Freed-Hardeman outlasted No. 3 seed Columbia College - ranked 15th - 74-71 in overtime in Saturday's other semifinal.