William Penn Loses Lead, Game to C-SC
Canton, Mo.–The Statesmen women’s basketball team shot well enough to get its first league win of the season, but unfortunately struggled on the glass in a 77-74 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Culver-Stockton Tuesday.
WPU (1-7, 0-5 Heart) hit 50.0% of its shots, while the Wildcats (6-2, 3-1 Heart) were also effective from the field at 49.3%. The visitors also bettered C-SC in three-pointers (7-6) and free throws (13-5), but failed to keep the home crew off the boards. The Statesmen were outrebounded 36-26, including a 14-5 mark on the offensive end that resulted in William Penn being outscored 19-3 in second-chance points.
Despite that, the navy and gold were in position to win, including holding a huge lead late in the third quarter.
WPU trailed 8-2 early, but battled back and eventually faced a negligible 22-18 deficit after 10 minutes of action.
Falling behind 26-21 early in the second stanza, the Statesmen offense started firing and the visitors posted 11 unanswered points. William Penn headed into the locker room with a 42-33 lead.
Headlined by an 8-0 run, WPU’s advantage exploded in the third period, growing to a game-best 19 points at 60-41 with 2:57 remaining in the quarter.
Culver-Stockton finished the third strong, however, and trimmed the margin to nine at 62-53 with one period left to be played.
WPU kept C-SC at bay for a few more minutes, but the hosts eventually overtook the Statesmen and held on down the stretch. Alyssa Hames (Grad., Ackley, Iowa, Master’s of Sport Management) was able to connect on a layup to tie the matchup one final time at 73-73 with 54 ticks left.
The Wildcats unfortunately scored on its last two possessions, while William Penn’s last-ditch three-pointer fell off the mark and the Statesmen got back on the bus still seeking their first Heart triumph.
Hames guided WPU with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting; she was also 6-for-7 at the free-throw line. Aysia Arrowood (Sr., Wichita, Kan., Sports Management) came off the bench to tack on 17 more points. The starting duo of Azori Edwards (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., Sociology) (13 points) and Aiesha Feagins (Sr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) (12 points) also performed well in the setback.
Hames led her team with five assists as well. Kayla Peoples (Jr., Waco, Texas, Nursing) accumulated five assists and also notched three steals, while Mariah Baltierra (Sr., Norcross, Ga., Sports Management) joined her with five helpers.
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Wednesday to host St. Ambrose in non-conference play at 6 p.m.
