Statesmen Rally to Clip Bobcats on Road
Peru, Neb.–Morgan Terry (Jr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) and Zantasia White (Jr., Lubbock, Texas, Secondary Education) both had career nights as the William Penn women’s basketball team overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat Peru State 79-74 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Wednesday.
WPU (3-20, 3-9 Heart) trailed by a game-high 15 points midway through the third quarter, but were dominant in the last 16-plus minutes, outscoring Peru State (8-12, 3-8 Heart) by a 46-26 margin. The visitors shot 65.4% (17-for-26) from the field after intermission and finished with a 54.9%-46.6% edge over the Bobcats.
Back-to-back three-pointers out of the gate put the Statesmen up 7-2 just three minutes into the evening. The navy and gold lead slowly slipped away and, as part of a 21-10 run, PSC went out on top, a position it stayed in for most of the contest.
Down 23-14 after one period, William Penn went on a run to get within two, only to see the hosts produce their own streak to capture an 11-point advantage (42-31) at the break.
Exactly 20 minutes after leading 7-2 in the opening quarter, the Statesmen were facing a 15-point deficit at 48-33 in the third stanza. A little give-and-take ensued over the next three minutes with the visiting crew still down 13 at 54-41.
Terry then connected on a jumper and made a pair of free throws, and the WPU offense was ignited. The Statesmen concluded the quarter with 12 unanswered points and entered the final 10 minutes down just one at 54-53.
The Bobcats were able to keep William Penn at bay for the first four minutes of the fourth stanza, but Terry, who recorded a career-high 30 points, scored on consecutive trips down the floor and Amanee Clark (So., Waterloo, Iowa, Human Services) poured in a three-pointer.
White made another trifecta and WPU went from down five to up five in less than two minutes. PSC fought to the end, but the Statesmen did enough damage at the charity stripe (seven makes in the last 1:12) to claim the victory. Overall, the victors were 16-for-21 at the charity stripe.
Terry was 11-for-15 from the field (1-for-1 3-PT) and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line en route to the team’s first 30-point effort of the season.
White was outstanding as well, going 10-for-15 overall, including a 5-for-10 showing from deep, to tally a career-best 25 points. Her output is the second highest for a WPU player this year.
Clark reached double figures as well with 10 points, while also pulling down a team-best eight rebounds. Behind Clark, the navy and gold owned a 30-26 advantage in rebounding.
Journie Augmon (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Human Services) and Alexis True (Fr., Frankfort, Ky., Exercise Science) both added six points and both dished out three assists.
Despite committing two more turnovers (19-17) than Peru State, William Penn was able to record a 27-22 edge in points off mistakes.
“We started out the game slow on both ends,” Head Coach Jenna Santi said. “The fight out of our ladies in the second half led us to victory. We need to carry this momentum over to our next game.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Springfield, Mo. Saturday to face Evangel in Heart play at 12 p.m.
