FULTON - The William Woods University women's basketball team moved into second place in the AMC standings with a 76-62 win over Williams Baptist on Saturday. For the second time in as many games, a freshman led the way for the Owls, as Destani Stensrud (Exeter, Mo.) poured in a career-high 16 points on the afternoon, shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the line.

It would take more than four minutes for WWU to find the mark in Saturday's contest, but Williams Baptist wasn't able to take advantage, with the biggest deficit for the Owls a 4-10 hole with 13:57 to go in the half.

With just over six minutes left in the half, Stensrud sparked a turnaround for the Owls, knocking down three straight jumpers in the paint for WWU before assisting on two of the Owls' next three buckets, turning a 15-20 deficit into a 28-22 lead with 2:34 in the half.

WWU would close out the half on a 19-6 run and take a 34-26 advantage into the locker room.

The Lady Eagles racked a three-pointer on the first possession out of the break to pull within five, but Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) answered with a bucket and a pair of free throw makes to push the lead out to nine. The Owls continued to pull away, extending the lead fo a 53-37 margin with 12:33 to go. Miranda Loesch (Lohman, Mo.) finished out the WWU push with strong play under the basket, as she picked up an offensive rebound on a Sharron Andrews effort and battled through traffic to get the putback on her second attempt.

Williams Baptist grabbed a timeout after the Loesch basket, and responded with a back-to-back treys to pull within a 53-43 margin with 11:10 to go, but Stensrud answered right back for WWU to keep the lead in double figures.

WWU would coast to the win, with only a consolation trey from Kim Sutterfield narrowing the final margin to 14 points.

The Owls move to 13-5 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. In addition to Stensrud's game-high 16, Loesch added 12 points and Andrews chipped in 11 for WWU. Loesch led a team rebounding effort for the Owls, pulling down seven as WWU held a 44-35 edge on the glass. WWU racked a .519 shooting pace on the afternoon, including a .556 clip in the second half, while holding WBC to .333 shooting.

William Woods is back in action on Monday night, welcoming in-town foe Westminster College to Anderson Arena. Tipoff for the game is set for 7 p.m.

ShowMe Scoreboard, 1.21.2012

Games played Friday, Jan. 20. 2012

High School Boys

• Dexter 61, NMCC 60 (OT x2)
• North Pemiscot 95, Cooter 67
• Puxico 85, Bernie 65
• Oran 49, Chaffee 32
• Scott County Central 76, Scott City 71
• Notre Dame 76, Saxony Lutheran 37
• Holcomb 72, Risco 67
• Charleston 75, Caruthersville 60
• Sikeston 69, Kennett 50

Saturday

• William Woods Women vs. Williams Baptist College
• Henderson State University @ Arkansas Tech
• Mizzou Men @ Baylor (1 p.m. on ESPN)
• Mizzou Women vs Oklahoma State
• Missouri S&T Women @ Quincy University
• SEMO Women @ Tennessee Tech
• SEMO Men @ Tennessee Tech

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

There are eight seconds left in double overtime; the ‘Cats trail by two points. Tyler Miller comes around a screen from Jake Lee, gets a pass from Chase Young, and launches a prayer.

The senior struggled from the perimeter throughout the second half and first overtime period, but Miller’s clutch three as time expired gave the Bearcats a 61-58 win over the New Madrid County Central Eagles.

“That play wasn’t designed, it just developed out of our motion set,” Dexter head coach Rob Nichols said. “We were out of timeouts, and had exhausted just about every set we had throughout the game. The guys created that themselves.”

“The shots Tyler hit at the end, you just have to pat him on the back for those,” Nichols continued. “He missed two [threes] there in the fourth quarter, one of them was almost an air ball, and he stepped up. That’s what a senior does when he’s a good player and knows it: he stepped up and hit that big shot there at the end.”

Miller wasn’t the only Bearcat to have an exemplary performance in the contest, despite being the hero of the day with his game-winning three. Lee scored 21 points in the game, as well as pulling in 12 rebounds. Young and Cody Neldon - who missed Tuesday night’s contest at Puxico - both played through illness in the contest and had solid defensive performances for the Bearcats.


“That was a complete team win. Everybody played their role; we had some kids that played sick, but played well,” Nichols commented. “Chase [Young] and Cody [Neldon] have both been sick this week.”

After an early technical foul on the NMCC bench, the ‘Cats jumped out to a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The Eagles battled back within one before a three from Miller gave the ‘Cats a 14-12 lead after the opening frame.

Brad Potts hit a trey early in the second to spark another 7-0 run for the ‘Cats. Jordan Fitts came up with a pair of steals in the quarter, and turned one of them into an easy layup. The Eagles had their worst scoring effort during the second quarter, and trailed 28-20 at halftime.

The ‘Cats rattled off four quick points to open the second half, but New Madrid pulled within five at the 4:30 mark and transitioned into a three-quarter press. The Eagles forced the Bearcats into a turnover-induced slump, and a pair of free throws from Armondo Thatcher tied the game at 38 with just under a minute left. Miller hit another three to put the ‘Cats up 41-38 at the end of the third.

Both teams exchanged quick scoring spurts early in the fourth quarter; the ‘Cats rattled off five unanswered before a three-point play from Thatcher and a three from Lomonta Nelson tied the game at 48 with 3:00 on the clock.

The game was tied at 50 with :15 seconds left when Nelson had a clear path to the basket; he drove into the lane, but was called for a travel to give the ‘Cats a shot at the win with :11 on the clock. Neldon’s 15-footer bounced off the backboard, but Fitts was there with a tip-in basket at the buzzer that was waved off by the officials for overtime.

Neldon fouled out early in the first overtime period, and a pair of free throws from Lee tied the game at 52. The Eagles got into their delay game at the 1:00 mark and maneuvered for a final shot, but threw the ball away at the :16 mark. Miller came up short on a three attempt for the win on the next possession, got his own rebound, and missed another shot to send the game to double overtime.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game on a Nelson jumper, but the ‘Cats battled until the final play, when Miller finally hit paydirt from downtown to seal the win.

Nichols noted some of the Bearcats’ mental mistakes early in the second half, but was proud of his team’s ‘never say die’ attitude in the second half and overtime periods.

“We had a few turnovers, a few miscues, that gave them easy baskets there in the third quarter, and if we cut down on those there probably wouldn’t have been any overtime tonight,” Nichols said. “There’s been times this season that miscues like that, we would have dropped our heads and might have lost the game, but the kids fought through it, and we picked up a win against a quality team.”

The Bearcats will be back in action on Monday, when they open the SCAA Tournament. The ‘Cats drew the No. 1 seed, and will face the No. 8 Bell City Cubs at 7:30 p.m.

COLUMBIA - In a battle between the top two preseason teams in the AMC, freshman Blake French (St. Charles, Mo.) did a lot of work off the scoresheet to power the William Woods University women's basketball team to a 69-64 win over Columbia College on Thursday night. The freshman had just seven points on the night, but singlehandedly keyed a seven-point push in the closing minutes of the game.

The Cougars struck first and jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but WWU answered, going up 8-7 with just 3:32 gone. The rest of the first half was a dogfight, seeing 10 lead changes and two ties.

Down five, a three-pointer from Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) narrowed the gap to 26-28 with 4:40 to go, but despite a free throw make from Andrews, Columbia pushed back out to a 33-29 lead with 1:15 on the clock.

French canned a trey with just under a minute to go, pulling the Owls to within one. WWU forced a shot clock turnover on the Cougars's next possession, but the freshman couldn't find the range as the Owls held for the last shot and the team went into the break down 32-33.

The second half was every bit as much a dogfight as the first, seeing four more lead changes and two ties over the first 10 minutes.

With 9:34 to go, the Owls would grab the lead for good, as Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) forced a turnover at halfcourt and drew a foul as she was headed for an easy layup. The senior swished both, with Aubuchon adding a pair of buckets for a 59-54 lead with 7:53 left.

A pair of buckets from Columbia closed the gap to 59-58 with 5:04 left, but French put the Owls on her shoulders over the next three minutes to push the WWU lead back to 66-58. A steal led to a Taylor triple to stretch the lead back to 62-58, and she walked in a fast-break layup after picking off an entry pass for a 64-58 edge. She finished off the spurt with a jumper from the left elbow.

Columbia racked a trey with just over a minute to pull within five, but WWU was able to hold off the push and pick up the win.

Andrews led the Owls offense with 17 points on the night, with Aubuchon and Ashlee Taylor (Dexter, Mo.) each adding 11. The Owls were outrebounded 43-38 on the night, but Aubuchon led the squad with seven. Heather English led all scorers with 23 points, adding 10 rebounds as well. Julie Teeple also pulled down 10 rebounds for the Cougars.

William Woods returns to action on Saturday, hosting Williams Baptist in a 2 p.m. tipoff. The game is the first of a home doubleheader with the men's team and the first in a three-game homestead.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Lafayette overcame its worst first-half shooting performance of the season with a 17-2 run to start the second half en route to a 54-43 victory over Holy Cross on Thursday night. Tony Johnson, Ryan Willen and Dan Trist each scored 11 points to lead the Leopards offensively as Johnson contributed all of his points in the final 20 minutes at the Hart Center.

With the win, Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon collected his 234th career victory, tying the mark for victories by a Patriot League coach held by former Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.

Lafayette limited Holy Cross (8-10, 2-2) to 33 percent shooting from the field and seven percent from beyond the arc. The 17 second-half, and 43 total points were both season-lows for a Lafayette opponent. Lafayette outscored Holy Cross 40-19 in the second half.

Lafayette (8-11, 3-1) connected on its first seven shots of the second half to take a 31-26 lead with 15:47 to play. Willen began the stretch with a jumper, Trist converted two layups surrounding R.J. Evans' basket at the other end and Johnson made a reverse lay-up to pull Lafayette within four 2:13 into the half and force a Holy Cross timeout. Following the stoppage, Lafayette hit three consecutive treys from Willen, Rob Delaney and Joey Ptasinski to cap the run.

Holy Cross responded with a 10-2 run of its own over the next 3:56 to regain the lead at 36-33. Mike Cavataio netted four of his eight points during the spurt that ended with Eric Obeysekere's jumper with 11:51 remaining.

A Crusaders' bucket tied the score at 38 with 9:53 showing before the visiting Leopards ripped off an 11-0 run that spanned 5:49. The stretch began with two Johnson layups, followed by a Jim Mower triple and four Willen free throws to go ahead 49-38 with 4:28 to go. A Phil Beans' lay-in briefly stopped the bleeding for Holy Cross but Johnson hit two freebies after he was fouled during a scramble for a loose ball.

Leading 51-41 and in possession of the basketball, Willen broke the Holy Cross press and found Mower open in the wing with two minutes to play. Mower drilled a three to give Lafayette its largest lead (54-41) and put the game out of reach. In total, Lafayette outscored Holy Cross 21-7 over the final 11:51 seconds of the contest.

In the first half Lafayette shot 6-for-31 from the field (19 percent) and 1-of-14 (7 percent) from beyond the arc. During the second stanza, the Leopards' shot 13-of-25 (52 percent) including 6-of-9 from downtown.

Lafayette returns to Kirby Sports Center on Sunday when its hosts archrival Lehigh at 2 p.m. Like tonight's game, the game will only be televised on CBS Sports Network.

Notes:
Lafayette turned the ball over nine times, the second straight game it gave the ball away fewer than 10 times.

Lafayette improved to 5-0 when holding opponents under 20 made field goals (18).

For a full breakdown of the game's stats, click here.