White Leads WPU in Season Opener
Dubuque, Iowa–The William Penn women’s basketball team started its 2021-2022 campaign on the road Friday by competing in the Clarke Classic. In their first game of the tournament, the Statesmen faced #8 Wayland Baptist and hung with the Flying Queens throughout, but ultimately were defeated by a score of 79-68.
The Statesmen battled through the first quarter with a balanced scoring attack, but were outshot 43% to 26% while shooting just 22% from behind the arc. Turnovers would be the key for the Flying Queens, as they would score a majority of their points off William Penn turnovers throughout the game.
The Statesmen were able to closely match the Pioneers in the second period, shooting 47% compared to 53% from the opposition. Zantasia White (Jr., Lubbock, Texas, Secondary Education) would start to solidify her stat line as she dished out four dimes coupled with seven points going into halftime.
Heading into the third quarter the Statesmen would look for White and Ally Stewart (Jr., Victoria, Australia) to help lead the charge as White tallied seven points and Stewart added five. White would go perfect from the field and from the line as the Statesmen outscored the Flying Queens in the third quarter 19-10 to close to 50-46. That would be the closest William Penn came to the Flying Queens, though, as Wayland Baptist quickly pushed the edge to 14 midway through the final quarter. Alexis True (Jr., Frankfort, Ky., Exercise Science) then hit a three-pointer, while White scored five straight points including an and-one near the bucket.
The Statesmen would play nearly the last quarter with their starting five. This proved to be a worthy strategy as the Statesmen and Flying Queens combined for 51 points in the fourth quarter. White and Journie Augmon (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Human Services) led the scoring down the stretch with 13 points. William Penn would unfortunately mishandle the basketball a bit too much in the fourth quarter and allow Wayland Baptist to score off of five turnovers.
White would lead the Statesmen scoring, shooting 60% from the field en route to 22 points in addition to five assists and five rebounds. Augmon and Stewart both added 11, while True scored 10 points along with seven assists. Rounding out the starting five for the Statesman was Morgan Terry (Jr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) who scored eight points while shooting 80% from the field. The Statesmen didn’t get much from their non-starters as the bench only accounted for six points on 27 total minutes.
What’s Next: The Statesmen will compete against #13 Dakota State Saturday at 3 p.m. to finish off the Clarke Classic weekend.
