FULTON - The William Woods University women's basketball team returns to Anderson Arena on Thursday night to take on a streaking Park University squad. The Owls are looking to rebound from a tough overtime loss at Hannibal-LaGrange last Saturday, while Park is currently on a four-game winning streak including a win over Columbia College.

Earlier This Season

In the first meeting between the teams on the 2011-12 season, the Owls took a 61-58 win at Breckon Sports Center in Parkville, behind a career game from freshman Blake French. The St. Charles, Mo., native poured in 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-pt range as WWU held off a late charge from Park for the win.

Quick Look - William Woods

The Owls are carrying a 16-7 record into tonight's contest, with Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) leading the charge for the Owls with 13.1 pts/gm on the season. WWU has been up and down in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches Poll this season, having debuted in the #23 spot and climbing as high as #22 on the season. They currently sit just seven points outside of the top 25, with 66 points on the year.

In addition to leading the Owl offense, Andrews is also tops in the steal department for William Woods, with her 57 steals good for 38th in the nation. Her per game pace of 2.478 is 40th in the country as well. Blake French (St. Charles, Mo.) is also ranked nationally for the Owls, with her assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.556 good for 43rd among NAIA Division I players.

As a team, the Owls are ranked in a number of categories, highlighted by a stout defensive philosophy. WWU allows just 56.7 pts/gm to its foes on a shooting pace of .362, good for 17th and 21st in the country respectively. The Owls are also among the top 50 on both sides of the rebounding ledger, grabbing 40.8 per game (39th) and allowing just 36.7 (40th). The margin of 4.043 per game is the 35th-highest in the nation.

Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) is the team's leading rebounder, hauling in 7.2 per game on the campaign, with Andrews just behind her at 6.2 per contest. Ashlee Taylor (Dexter, Mo.) and Miranda Loesch (Lohman, Mo.) each add 4.6 boards per game, rounding out a well-balanced glass crew for the Owls. Aubuchon and Taylor are also solid contributors offensively, with 9.7 pts/gm and 8.0 pts/gm respectively on the year.

The Owls have also been solid in blocks on the season, with 74 rejections to 41 for its opponents. As a team, the Owls have hit at a .385 pace from the floor this year, with a .313 mark from beyond the arc. WWU has also posted a solid .677 pace from the free throw line, with its opponents able to muster just a .638 pace from the stripe.

Quick Look - Park

After opening the conference slate with just one win in five outings, the Pirates have come on strong in recent days. Park is currently riding a four-game winning streak that includes a 22-point win over Columbia College. Vivian Holcomb leads the Pirates with 11.7 pts/gm on the year, with Brianna Beridon adding 9.2 on the campaign. Beridon has been one of two go-to scorers for Park in the current four-game run, with 14 points against Stephens and 19 against Hannibal-LaGrange. Danila Fabbri led the Pirates against Missouri Baptist and Columbia, knocking in 14 and 17 respectively.

Milestone Watch

WWU head coach Dan Chapla is within reach of two milestone wins. In his fourth year at the helm, he needs just four wins to reach 100 career wins for William Woods, and would become the third coach to reach the milestone for the Owls. He is all but guaranteed of reaching the mark faster than any other coach at WWU, as Roger Ternes hit the mark in his 159th game (100-59) and Melissa Brooks needed 195 games (100-95) to do it.

Putting The Student First In Student-Athlete

Senior Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) was recently named to the CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District 7 Team in the University Division. The honor, the first such accolade for William Woods University, recognizes Aubuchon as a standout on both the court and in the classroom. To be eligible for the award, players must have earned a 3.300 GPA or higher, must have completed one full year at the institution, and must be a regular contributor to the team. With the district honor, the Physical Education major moves on to national balloting.

ST. LOUIS - The Maryville baseball team has a 50-game schedule lined up for the 2012 season. The year begins with a three-game series at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., Feb. 11-12. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 11, and play a single game Sunday, Feb. 12.

The Saints host their first home game of the season Tuesday, Feb. 28, when Lincoln comes to Weber Field. Maryville heads to Winter Haven, Fla., to play three games, and it begins Great Lakes Valley Conference play with doubleheaders at Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan March 17 and 18. Bellarmine is the first GLVC home opponent Saturday, March 24.

The Saints close out the home portion of the conference slate with a four-game set versus Drury April 28-29. The final regular-season series takes place at Missouri S&T May 5-6. Last season, the Saints finished with a 9-35 overall record, 5-25 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Saints Begin 2012 Season at Harding

The Maryville baseball team begins the 2012 season with a three-game series at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 11, starting at Noon and play a single game Sunday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m.

About Harding

Last season, the Bisons finished 42-13 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Harding was ranked 24th in the final Division II poll last season and is ranked 28th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason poll.

More on Maryville

Last season, the Saints finished with a 9-35 overall record, 5-25 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Leading the Saints will be team captains Nick Little, Caleb 'Bob' Miller and Colby White. Little and last season’s Rookie of the Year Kyle Kinyon are the top returning hitting hitters after both posted a .291 average last year.

While led the team in RBIs with 17 and eight extra base hits. On the mound, Maryville’s leading returners are Jared Green who had two wins and a 2.70 ERA last season, and Brandon Sarkissian who topped the team with 24 strikeouts.

Miller, a native of Dexter, Mo., was a key player in the Saints' outfield last season, where he amassed a .881 fielding percentage. The junior looks to improve on his .224 batting average (.240 career) from last season.

For Openers

The Saints will host Lincoln in its home opener Tuesday, Feb. 28, in a 1 p.m. game at Weber Field. The first Great Lakes Valley Conference series is Saturday, March 17, when Maryville plays at Southern Indiana. The first home GLVC series begins Saturday, March 24, as Bellarmine comes to town for a Noon doubleheader.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BERNIE - The Mules picked up 31 points from the charity stripe on the way to a 71-43 victory against the Hayti Indians on Tuesday night.

“I’m real proud of our team tonight. Hayti is coming off the Bootheel Conference Championship and we really stepped up and played well," head coach Brad Botsch said after the win. "We’ve faced some adversity lately, and our kids really bought in and stepped up."

Bernie doubled up the Tribe in the opening quarter thanks to an early trey from Troy Kirkpatrick. The Mules exploded for a 24 point effort in the second quarter with B.J. Jennings knocking down a three and Kirkpatrick hitting two more from downtown. Bernie held a big 36-20 lead heading into halftime.

Jiemel Covington and Hunter Turnon both connected from beyond the arc early in the third quarter for Hayti, but the Mules were able to preserve a 20 point lead with a perfect 8-8 effort from the line. 13 of Bernie's 20 points in the fourth quarter came from the stripe, and the Mules improved to 14-8 on the season with the victory.

"I think we showed more poise and confidence than we have all year," Botsch said. "We took care of the ball and didn’t play timidly."

"When players believe in their abilities and each other, good things generally happen, and they believed tonight," he added. "However, it will be important for us to keep this win in perspective and understand that it’s just one game. We must continue working hard as we have all year and build off of this. I’m real happy for our kids, they work hard and persevered tonight and we hope to keep it going."

Kirkpatrick led the Mules with 19 points, while Landon Woods and David Baker added 15 and 14, respectively.

In JV action, the Mules moved to 18-0 on the season with a 57-31 victory.

Bernie will be back in action again on Friday night, when they travel to Malden to face the Green Wave. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Missouri Tiger fans have a lot to be happy about these days.

MU's basketball team is currently No. 4 in the nation, and posted a big win in what could be the final 'Border War' game with Kansas played on Mizzou's campus.

The football team signed the nation's top-ranked wide receiver prospect, Dorial Green-Beckham, on National Signing Day last week.

On Tuesday, Tiger fans received even more good news - Elvis Fisher has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. 

ROLLA - The Missouri S&T Lady Miners took a break from Great Lakes Valley earning a 71-46 victory over future GLVC member McKendree on Thursday evening at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Lady Miners shot 49.2 percent in the contest and improved to 15-6 on the season.

The Bearcats (7-16) scored the first point of the contest for their only lead of the night and held S&T scoreless for the first two minutes. Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind.) put the Lady Miners on the board with a follow-up shot off a Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) miss. That basket sparked S&T as it scored the next seven points.

Leann Voss made it a 3-point game nailing a trey from the wing less than five minutes into the contest. That would be the closest McKendree got the rest of the evening as the Lady Miners scored the next six points to increase their lead to nine by the 12:25 mark.

The game remained to hover around a 10-point margin over the next 10 minutes before S&T closed the first half out by scoring eight of the final 10 points to take a 31-17 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Lady Miners shot 47 percent (14-for-30) from the floor in the opening stanza and outrebounded the Bearcats by a 21-17 margin. Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) and Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) led the with eight and seven points respectively.

McKendree was just 7-of-28 (25 percent) from the floor in the frame and were led by Ashley Agee's seven points off the bench.

The Bearcats scored the first bucket of the second half on a layup by Brittany Willis to make it 31-19 just 0:21 in.

From that point S&T took control going an 18-5 run over the next five minutes. Meyer scored six points in the run while Evans and Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) had four apiece.

The lead grew to 31 points on two different occasions with the last one coming at the 1:42 mark on a layup by Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton).

The Lady Miners shot 52 percent in the second half and were 4-for-7 from downtown as they finished the contest 29-of-59 from the floor and outrebounded McKendree by a 39-to-32 margin. Meyer and Hall were the only two in double figures finishing with 13 and 10 respectively.

S&T forced 24 turnovers in the contest turning those into 16 points. The Lady Miners also had the edge in the paint outscoring them by 22 points.

The Bearcats shot 40 percent (10-for-25) in the second half to finish the contest shooting 32.1 percent. Agee was the lone player in double figures for McKendree finishing with 10 points.

S&T begins a three-game road swing with a trip to St. Louis on Thursday to take on the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis beginning at 5:30 p.m.