William Penn Back to .500 with Defeat of Bethel (Kan.)
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Oskaloosa–Jessie Kreuser (Sr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Undecided) nearly set a new career mark in an efficient performance as the Statesmen women’s basketball team won 74-55 over Bethel (Kan.) in non-conference action Wednesday.
The senior went 9-for-12 from the field (3-for-3 FT) en route to 21 points (career high is 22) and WPU (4-4) went wire-to-wire for the victory.
The Threshers knotted the contest once at 10-10, but the hosts replied with eight unanswered and never led by less than four again. A 37-24 halftime lead was obtained via a 42.9%-32.1% shooting advantage.
William Penn allowed the visiting squad within single digits one final time in the second stanza at 47-39, but then shut the door with another 8-0 run. The navy and gold went up by as much as 22 in the waning minutes and eventually finished with a 40.5%-34.9% margin from the floor.
Katie Golomski (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Psychology) had an efficient performance akin to that of Kreuser, making four of her six shots (3-for-4 3-PT) for 11 points. Janay Pritchett (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology) had to work much harder for her double-digit showing as WPU’s leading scorer was just 3-for-19 for ten points. She found other ways to contribute, though, pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out five assists.
Kadejah Young (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Physical Education) and Dezarea Duckworth (Fr., Bryant, Ark., Exercise Science) each contributed eight points, while Briana McRae (So., Racine, Wis., Undecided) finished with six points in addition to three steals.
Kreuser also blocked three BC shots, while WPU turned 21 Thresher turnovers into 16 points. The Statesmen finished with just one more rebound (47-46), but had four more second-chance points (17-13).
“I thought Jessie was really effective all night long,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “She did a nice job on both ends of the floor. She finished a lot of her two-foot shots and was really too much for them to handle inside.”
“Also, I thought Briana had an outstanding game off the bench, really providing a lift for the team when we needed it,” Brown added. “It was good to see Katie return to form from the arc as well. Although Janay had a tough scoring night, I thought she did a tremendous job of distributing the ball to her teammates; she can really hurt you in a lot of different ways. If we keep getting better on the glass and on the defensive end, the sky is the limit for this group.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Sioux Falls, S.D. Friday to face NCAA Division II Augustana in an exhibition at 7 p.m.
