COLUMBUS — The men’s and women’s basketball teams showed out at the Mississippi University for Women over the weekend, getting right after losses last week to pick up conference wins. The teams battled to earn important victories in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in home games at Pohl Gymnasium. 

The Owls women, coached by Eric Vaughn, lost to Principia College on Thursday but picked up their second win of the season in a 76-46 win over Fontbonne University on Saturday. Now 2-11 on the season, the team rallied behind a season-best performance from guard Conley Langford. She buried eight shots from beyond the arc in a 32-point performance, grabbing 11 rebounds to make it the 16th double-double of her career. 

Langford and the high-flying Owls jumped out to a 32-5 lead after one quarter, setting the tone for a comfortable win. The team’s leading scorer Calysia Phillips was held to just four points, but she shared the ball well with a program-best 11 assists, and the Owls got eight points each from Claire Leak and Leileigh Moody.  

The Owls men, coached by Dean Burrows, improved to 6-7, 3-3 in SLIAC play, with a pair of wins last week over Principia and Fontbonne. The strong week made it four wins in the last five games for the Owls, who now sit fifth in the conference standings. 

The Owls won 66-56 on Thursday against Principia, and followed that performance with an 87-82 win over Fontbonne on Saturday, holding back a strong second-half comeback attempt by the visitors behind one of the best team performances of the season. 

Jackson Reid and Trent Walker led the scoresheet with 22 and 20 points respectively, with Walker completing a double-double performance with 11 boards. Chris Evans and Eric Bass Jr. joined them in double-digits with 11 and 10 points respectively, followed closely by James Dukes with nine points. 

The team had 22 assists total, a season-best performance and their second game with 20 or more assists this season. The team’s top three assist performances all came in the last four games, showing a positive trend for the Owls as they pick up momentum in conference play. 

Both Owls teams play at home again this week. They will face off with Blackburn College on Thursday and Eureka College on Saturday before going back on the road next week to face Greenville University. 

The Owls track and field team was also set to begin its spring semester on Saturday, competing in Birmingham at the UAB Blazer Invitational. The event was canceled due to the severe winter weather that swept across the south at the end of last week, but the Owls men’s track and field team is expecting to travel to Birmingham this weekend for the Samford University Open Track and Field event.