WPU Picks Off Eagles for Seventh in a Row
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Fayette, Mo.–The Statesmen women’s basketball team took a significant slight by the national raters to heart and took down Central Methodist 70-56 on the road in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Wednesday.
The Statesmen have now secured the most wins in program history since William Penn won 28 in 1981-1982; it is the eighth-highest win total ever. #14 William Penn (24-2, 19-2 Heart) also retains its one-game league lead over #7 MidAmerica Nazarene with three games left to play.
All of that was moot Wednesday; the only thing that mattered was proving the critics wrong and the visitors did that by outshooting the Eagles (17-10, 13-8 Heart) 46.0%-40.9%.
WPU did more than half of its damage from behind the arc with a success 12-for-26 showing (46.2%), highlighted by Kate Ylitalo (Jr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) finishing 6-for-10 from deep en route to 22 points. Conversely, CMU, which entered ranked 27th in the NAIA, was limited to a 27.8% three-point clip.
The host squad put the navy and gold in a 9-3 hole early on, and after yielding a Statesmen run, the Eagles pushed again to lead 18-13 after one quarter.
CMU tacked on two more points to start the second with a 20-13 edge, but the rest of the quarter belonged to William Penn. The victors posted 13 of the next 14 points and eventually outscored Central Methodist 20-6 in the stanza for a 33-24 halftime advantage.
William Penn was a balanced crew at that point with three individuals heading the charge with six points each. Ylitalo took over in the third, though, with 10 points as the Statesmen began to pull away, up 55-36 (22-12 in the quarter) entering the final period.
Both sides were ice cold in the beginning moments of the fourth, which made it that much more difficult for the Eagles to mount a comeback. Courtesy of eight unanswered, they were able to trim the margin to 11 with 5:40 still remaining, but the Statesmen were never truly threatened down the stretch as they completed the season sweep of CMU.
WPU’s defense was the true headliner, forcing 25 turnovers which led to 23 points for the victors. The navy and gold were a little sloppy as well with 19 mistakes, but CMU was not as advantageous, only tallying 14 points off Statesmen turnovers.
The Statesmen also survived a rough performance at the line (54.5%), while the Eagles were not much better at 60.0%.
Ylitalo was 7-for-16 from the floor and also managed a team-high six rebounds and three steals. Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) matched her theft tally, while also recording 13 points. The senior successfully worked around foul trouble; she picked up one on the first possession of the game and had two by halftime, but did not commit her third infraction until midway through the fourth.
Most shockingly about Nwagbaraocha’s performance, though, was the fact that she was not permitted a single rebound. It is only the second time in her illustrious 121-game Statesmen career, which includes 1,002 total rebounds, that she did not net a board (the other time was February 8, 2017).
Despite CMU holding Nwagbaraocha off the glass, the Statesmen were only outrebounded by one, 30-29, and WPU actually outscored the Eagles 7-4 in second-chance points.
Makenzie Pezley (So., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) reached double figures as well with 12 points off the bench, including going 4-for-7 from deep.
Autumn Voigt (Jr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management) was also strong off the bench, scoring seven points in just 10 minutes of action.
Jenna Santi (Sr., Oak Creek, Wis., Sports Management) added six points and Shamiah Oliver (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Education) contributed five. Brenda Pennington (Jr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) made up for an off night shooting by dishing out 11 assists. William Penn distributed the ball well, notching 19 assists on its 23 made field goals.
“I thought we played a great defensive game all night,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “We did a great job of helping and not giving up penetration. Offensively, we struggled taking care of the ball, but made some big plays when we needed. It is always good to get a road win, especially against a very talented team like Central Methodist.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Lamoni Saturday to face Graceland in Heart action at 2 p.m.
