Statesmen Erupt in Fourth Quarter to Pick Up First Win
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Clinton–If the William Penn women’s basketball team can duplicate its play from Saturday’s fourth quarter, it will find a lot of success this year as the squad rallied for a 61-52 non-conference win over Ashford.
Down 29-24 after three 10-minute quarters, the Statesmen (1-2) went all Mount Vesuvius on their hosts in the fourth, tallying 37 points to notch their first win in the Willie Scott Era.
The visitors shot just 19.0% at intermission, but fortunately the Saints (0-2) struggled as well to the tune of 18.5%. It got a bit better in the third quarter as WPU began to prime the pump for an incredible final 10 minutes of play.
Still training 34-27 with 9:10 on the clock, the navy and gold scored 10 straight points as part of an 18-4 run to take the lead for good. The Statesmen pushed the margin to as many as 11 points before settling for the nine-point victory.
William Penn outshot Ashford 34.0%-28.0%, was outrebounded by just one at 31-30, and committed two fewer turnovers (12-14).
Alyssa Phillips (Jr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) had eight of her team’s 12 points at halftime and added another 12 after break for a game-high 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
Kadejah Young (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn., Physical Education) hit four three-pointers en route to 12 points, while Jenna Santi (Fr., Oak Creek, Wis.) had an 11-point, five-assist afternoon.
Sabrina Avery (Fr., Riverside, Calif., Sociology) and Destiny Spinner (Sr., Saginaw, Mich., Biology) both contributed five points and Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis.) pulled down a squad-best six rebounds in addition to four points.
WPU was 6-for-8 from the perimeter (75.0%) and 19-for-29 at the line (65.5%). Phillips’ only struggle was at the charity stripe (4-for-11), but her teammates made up the difference by finishing 15-for-18.
“It feels great to get a win under our belt,” Head Coach Willie Scott said. “Today we got the ball to our post players and pressured the ball full court which led to some easy baskets. We are still finding ourselves and we will get better each time out. I am very proud of this team as we learn something different each night.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Forest City Tuesday to face Waldorf in non-conference play at 6:30 p.m.
