Lady Statesmen March on to Semis with 65-55 Win Over Viterbo
The William Penn Lady Statesmen defeated Viterbo Thursday night to advance
Oskaloosa–It is not easy to beat a team three times in one season, but the William Penn women’s basketball team accomplished exactly that feat Thursday night with a 65-55 victory over Viterbo in the quarterfinals of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Lady Statesmen (12-18) ended the 2011-2012 campaign for the fifth-seeded V-Hawks (10-21) by outscoring them 38-28 after the break.
The navy and gold now advance to meet top seed and #9 nationally-ranked Grand View (Saturday at 2 p.m. in Des Moines). The Vikings also moved on by fighting off upset-minded AIB 69-64. Grand View swept the regular season series over William Penn, winning 73-65 in Oskaloosa on January 11 and 67-60 in Des Moines on February 8.
In other quarterfinal play, #2 Mount Mercy dropped #7 Ashford 77-65, while #6 St. Ambrose knocked off #3 Iowa Wesleyan 69-52.
The visiting V-Hawks looked poise to also earn the upset Thursday as they scored the first eight points of the evening. The home squad answered back with a 14-4 run to take its first lead. The Lady Statesmen then pulled out to a five-point edge late, but Viterbo rallied to knot the contest at 27-27 at intermission.
The next ten minutes of play were written in the same vein with the largest lead being just three points. William Penn finally took charge, however, as down one point at 44-43, Katie Golomski (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Pius Xi HS) started the game’s biggest run by hitting one of her game-high three three-pointers. The freshman finished with nine points.
Nearly four minutes later, at the 4:21 mark, William Penn concluded its run with its 11th-straight point and led by a game-best ten at 54-44.
Viterbo, paced by 16 points and seven rebounds from Laquita Becker, could only narrow the deficit to seven on three occasions.
William Penn owned a 41.8%-35.2% edge in field-goal shooting and was also stronger on the glass (39-30). The hosts were actually worse at protecting the ball (12 turnovers to 11 for VU), but turned those mistakes into a 14-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
Vanessa Kieres (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Regina Dominican HS) came off the bench to guide her team in the scoring column. The freshman went 6-of-9 from the floor for 13 points.
Orielle Thomas (So., Waynesville, Mo., Waynesville HS) notched double-double #15 with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Sarah Martin (Jr., Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) also joined the club with ten points. She tied Susan Smith (Jr., Eugene, Ore., Lane CC) with four assists.
Sam Abens (Jr., Knoxville, Southwest Minnesota State) and Taylor Reed (Jr., Kalamazoo, Mich., Kalamazoo Valley CC) added seven points each in the win.
Both teams were outstanding at the charity stripe, with Viterbo finishing 14-of-16 and William Penn going 13-of-16.
