William Penn Back in Fourth Place with Road Win Over Clarke
William Penn Women's Athletics
Dubuque–The Lady Statesmen cagers avenged their most disappointing loss of the year with a 65-48 defeat of Clarke in Midwest Collegiate Conference action Saturday.
William Penn (10-17, 8-8 MCC) slides back into a tie for fourth with Viterbo (WPU holds tiebreaker) due to a 42-23 second-half thumping of the Crusaders (6-21, 3-13 MCC).
The visitors trailed 25-23 at the break and remained on the bottom side of the score until a bucket by Sam Abens (Jr., Knoxville, Southwest Minnesota State) gave the navy and gold the lead for good at 36-34 with 11:40 remaining. It was the team’s first advantage since being up 13-11.
The margin grew to seven twice before Clarke pulled even one final time at 45-45 with 6:31 left.
Fortunately, the rest of the afternoon was entirely dominated by William Penn. The Lady Statesmen scored 12 in a row and 20 of the final 23 points to avenge a 62-48 loss back on January 14 in Oskaloosa. At the time, the win was the first for the Crusaders in league play.
William Penn outshot its host 57.1%-32.0% in the second half and 45.3%-36.0% overall.
Jessi Kreuser (Fr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Henry Sibley HS) played a major part in her team’s late success, scoring eight of her game-high 20 points in the final 4:04.
The freshman also pulled down 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Katie Golomski (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Pius Xi HS) connected on 4-of-8 three-pointers for 12 points, while Abens and Taylor Reed (Jr., Kalamazoo, Mich., Kalamazoo Valley CC) produced eight points apiece.
Sarah Martin (Jr., Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) added five points in addition to four assists. Both she and Abens recorded two steals in the victory, while Susan Smith (Jr., Eugene, Ore., Lane CC) dished out four assists as well.
The navy and gold were forced into 12 turnovers, while Clarke committed 20 mistakes, good for a 19-15 edge in points off turnovers for William Penn. The Lady Statesmen were outrebounded 34-31.
Only 22 fouls were whistled on the day (11 for each side), as William Penn finished 9-of-11 at the line and Clarke was 7-of-9.
The Lady Statesmen were without the services of leading scorer Orielle Thomas (So., Waynesville, Mo., Waynesville HS) for the second-consecutive game.
Next: The Lady Statesmen host AIB next Wednesday in their final home game of the year. The MCC contest begins at 5:30 p.m.
