Cold Shooting, Technical Fouls Doom Statesmen Against Rival Vikings
Oskaloosa–The William Penn women’s basketball team struggled from the field and had a pair of controversial calls not go its way in a 60-53 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Grand View Tuesday.
#25 WPU (4-3, 2-2 Heart), which was held to just 28.1% from the floor, started in a 2-0 hole before the opening tip due to an administrative technical foul.
The hosts bounced back, though, and led 13-8 late in the first quarter before settling for a two-point edge at 13-11.
The second quarter proved to be the undoing for the Statesmen as the Vikings (5-2, 2-1 Heart), who shot 40.5% overall, started strong and finished a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. GVU’s edge grew to 10, but the navy and gold finished the half with three straight points and trailed 29-22 at intermission.
William Penn shot only 20.7% prior to the break and did not fare much better in the third period. Compounding matters was the fact that the squad was whistled for its second technical foul late in the quarter following a controversial foul on Autumn Voigt (Sr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management). Grand View knocked down both of its free throws to stretch its advantage to seven at 37-30.
The decision energized the already excited Statesmen fans who were preparing for the men’s Toilet Paper game later on Tuesday night. Kate Ylitalo (Sr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) scored four straight points, but it only momentarily slowed down the visitors who led 40-34 entering the last 10 minutes of action.
A 7-0 push, paced by a three-pointer from Ylitalo, trimmed the deficit to two at 43-41 with 6:02 still remaining. It was the closest the Statesmen could get, however, as their foes closed out strong. Ylitalo topped her team with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting (4-for-5 3-PT).
Removing the second quarter, WPU actually outscored GVU by two points at 44-42. The home team dominated the glass with a 45-30 edge, including a 19-3 mark on the offensive glass, but failed to take advantage as it only held a 7-3 mark in second-chance points.
One of the biggest daggers in the setback came from behind the arc; the Vikings shot 52.6% from three-point land, while the Statesmen hit just 33.3% of their tries. WPU was also nipped at the charity stripe with GVU going 16-for-23 and the home crew shooting a strong 83.3%, but on only 12 attempts (10-for-12).
William Penn was slightly in more control of the ball with 14 turnovers, compared to 15 for Grand View, but the Vikings tallied a 6-5 margin in points off mistakes.
Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) joined Ylitalo in double figures with 10, while Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) just missed the mark with nine in addition to two steals. Mullinix and Voigt both assisted on three buckets Tuesday.
Olivia Usher (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mathematics) tallied seven points off the bench, while Voight contributed six.
“We have to be able to finish shots and score,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “We had a lot of good looks and simply did not finish. Our defense was good as we held them to just 60 points, but you will not win many games shooting as poorly as we did tonight.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to action next Monday as it travels to Dubuque to face #19 Clarke in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
