Kennedy's career day powers Pride road win at William Woods
FULTON, Mo. - Returning to Heart of America Athletic Conference play after a quick non-conference stop earlier in the week, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a wire-to-wire 81-58 victory at William Woods University on Saturday afternoon in Fulton, Mo.
The first three makes from the field for the Pride came from deep as Camdyn Kay, Hailey Walters, and Abby Hollis all finished off assists from Zoe Kennedy to an early 9-2 lead for the road team before the Owls produced a comeback to within a point at 9-2 but Josie Potts and Jessica Morgan would each hit shots in the final 90 seconds of the first quarter to lead 14-10 at the quarter break.
Morgan would book end the second quarter with two more three pointers after ending the first that way for the freshman from Lancaster, Wis. to put CU up double digits at 36-24 at halftime as all three of those triples would lead to her first half output of nine points on her way to a career-high 15 points off the bench on 5-of-9 (55.6%) shooting from the field.
After producing a scoreless first quarter but stuffing the statsheet in other ways, Kennedy scored nine points in the second quarter to help get the Clarke lead to double figures on her way to her second-career triple-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, while adding four steals and four blocks, shooting 7-for-14 (50%) from the field, 2-for-4 (50%) from three point range, and 4-for-5 (80%) from the free throw line for one of the best individual statlines in program history.
Just over a year to the date from her first triple-double, Kennedy's prior triple-double came on Jan. 4, 2025 at home against Peru State when she scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and tied a school record 16 assists while shooting the exact same 7-for-14 from the field, but without a three pointer and a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line.
Kennedy's four steals and four blocks on the defensive end were also statistical improvements from the prior triple-double as the defensive effort helped make up for the missing presence of two-time Heart Defensive Player of the Week Reese Ryan as the Pride finished with nine steals and seven blocks as a team while limiting WWU to 21-for-59 (35.6%) shooting from the field compared to the 30-for-67 (44.8%) shooting from Clarke on the day.
Along with Kennedy's 10 assists, the Pride played a strong team brand of basketball, finishing with season-high 21 assists on the game, assisting on all but nine of the baskets made from the field with every player that saw action on the floor on Saturday scoring at least two points and all but one player making a shot from the field including double figure scoring games from both Walters (11) and Kay (10) while Potts had six assists of her own while she and Breckan Stewart added seven points each to round out the starting lineup with Kennedy, Kay, and Walters.
Stewart made her first start in place of the aforementioned Ryan, as she would add five rebounds, an assist, and four steals in a career-high 34 minutes of action with Hollis also seeing an uptick in minutes on Saturday, playing 16 minutes to provide five points, two rebounds, and two assists off the bench.
Clarke women's basketball will return home for their only home game in a 20-day span when they host Culver-Stockton College on Wednesday, Jan. 21 for a scheduled 5:30 p.m. CT scheduled tip between the Pride and Wildcats in the Kehl Center.