Phillips Joins 1,000-Point Club as WPU Takes Down Peru State
William Penn University Athletics
Peru, Neb.–Alyssa Phillips (Sr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) became a member of the 1,000-point club Monday as she helped the Statesmen women’s basketball team to an 80-58 win over Peru State in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.
Phillips is the 22nd player in program history to reach the milestone and just the fifth since WPU joined the NAIA in 2001-2002. Entering the contest needing eight points for 1,000 in her career, she eclipsed that mark by halftime, eventually wrapping up with 15 points. The senior started her career three years ago with 137 points as a freshman and has since added campaigns of 311 points and 434 points. Phillips currently has 125 points (15.6 avg.) this season.
The Statesmen (5-3, 4-1 Heart) had little trouble with the Bobcats, rolling out to a 23-15 advantage after the first quarter and then more than doubling that margin by halftime at 48-29.
PSC (2-6, 0-5 Heart) showed great resilience in the third period, closing to within nine before William Penn regained its footing and pushed the lead back into double figures. That is where it would stay the final 10 minutes as the navy and gold defense limited the hosts to only 27.8% from the field; WPU shot 43.3% overall.
Both programs corralled 47 rebounds, but the Statesmen succeeded on a few more extra tries to record a 13-9 advantage in second-chance points. Another aspect of the win came from defensive pressure that forced 22 turnovers (16 for WPU), leading to an 11-4 mark in points off mistakes. Five William Penn players snatched up two steals each.
While Phillips will steal the headlines for her accomplishment, Vashti Nwagbaraocha (So., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) was actually the team’s leading scorer with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting. She also dished out six assists.
Brynesha Mosby (So., Belleville, Ill., Biology) joined her teammates in double digits with 10 points off the bench. Jessica Warren (Sr., Park Forest, Ill., Physical Education) finished with eight points, while GeLina Webb (Sr., Crete, Ill., Software Engineering) contributed seven. Asia Roper (Sr., Aurora, Colo., Psychology) and ShaVonn Watkins (Sr., Peoria, Ill., Physical Education) managed five points apiece Monday.
“I am so proud of this team,” Head Coach Willie Scott said. “They continue to accomplish our mission of holding teams below 60 points by playing hard and playing together. We will continue to stay humble and hungry.”
“I am happy and honored to be Alyssa’s coach as she passed 1,000 career points tonight,” Scott added. “She and Vashti were great for us. They are our captains and leaders and they showed that again tonight.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Kansas City, Mo. Thursday to face Avila in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
