Statesmen Fall Short Against St. Ambrose
Davenport–The William Penn women’s basketball team could not get a last-second game-winner to fall as it came up short in a 56-55 non-conference loss to St. Ambrose Saturday.
The Statesmen (2-3) had an opportunity to secure a victory at the end of the contest, despite being outshot 35.4%-29.8% by the Queen Bees (2-1).
The first four minutes of the game were close as the visitors trailed just 5-4, but the rest of the stanza was all St. Ambrose as it exploded to a 16-6 advantage at the end of the first.
William Penn fought back in the second quarter with a shot by Kayla Peoples (Sr., Waco, Texas, Secondary Education) tying the contest at 20-20. It was one of eight ties for the contest, which also saw eight lead changes.
Neva’eh Diaz-Doolin (Fr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology) then hit two free throws to give William Penn its first lead of the day at 22-20. WPU shot well from the charity stripe, going 13-for-16. The Queen Bees were given 17 more opportunities, but were not effective as they went just 17-for-33.
Tied at 24-24 at halftime, the second half was also tight. St. Ambrose pulled out to a quick lead, but the deficit was erased as Taylor Lawhorne (Sr., Amityville, N.Y., Business Management) finished a three-point play to get the lead back at 32-31.
The teams went back and forth until William Penn ended the third quarter in the driver’s seat with a 42-38 edge.
William Penn got out to its largest lead when Diaz-Doolin hit a three-pointer to go up 45-39 with 9:17 left in the contest. The navy and gold continued to stay ahead, but SAU eventually grabbed a 56-55 advantage with 1:30 left in the contest.
WPU had three possessions down the stretch, but failed to produce an answer, including missing a trifecta in the final seconds.
The Statesmen used their 40-34 edge in rebounding (16-10 offensively) to outscore the hosts 19-7 in second-chance points.
Turnovers were a plight for both teams as William Penn had 16 and the Fighting Bees had 14, but the visiting crew managed a 14-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
Peoples paced her team with 21 points in addition to nine rebounds and three steals. Diaz-Doolin also reached double digits with 10.
Lawhorne contributed nine points and eight boards, while Kayla Jones (Sr., Louisville, Ky., Psychology) ended her outing with eight points.
Jones dished out two assists in the loss as well.
“This was a tough one on the road,” Head Coach Sheawn Bedford Jr. said. “I thought we played hard for the entire 40 minutes. In a close game like this one, every little mistake counts. We will learn from it. I am proud of our team’s fight despite the loss.”
