Defense Leads Statesmen Over Graceland 68-37
William Penn’s Vashti Nwagbaraocha heads to the hoop for 2 of her 19 points against Graceland on Saturday.
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–With one of its top scorers unavailable, the William Penn women’s basketball team was in need of someone to step up, and more than just one person answered the call as the Statesmen dropped Graceland 68-37 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
The Statesmen (17-5, 11-2 Heart) have now won a season-high four games in a row for the third time this year. The win helps WPU keep pace with MidAmerica Nazarene and Central Methodist for the league lead.
Sarah Hansen (Sr., Kewanee, Ill., Psychology and Human Services) was out of town for military duty, leaving a sizeable gap to be filled. Fortunately, the hosts once again played tremendous defense and the points came in a variety of ways, most notably from Kate Ylitalo (So., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) and Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science).
All cylinders fired in the opening quarter as William Penn scored 12 of the first 14 points and eventually led 20-5 after one period of action.
The second quarter, for whatever reason, has been a major thorn in the team’s side and it was again on Saturday. The Yellowjackets (5-16, 2-11 Heart) roared back, trimming the margin to eight at 31-23 by halftime.
The third stanza, on the other hand, has been quite kind to the navy and gold, and Saturday was much of the same. The Statesmen recorded the first 11 points of the quarter and blew the contest wide open with a 23-6 edge during that 10-minute span.
WPU cruised from there to complete the season sweep of GU, outshooting the visitors 44.6%-28.2% and outrebounding them 41-26.
While those numbers are impressive, the matchup was really won in turnovers with William Penn forcing 28 Graceland mistakes (18 for the home team). The Statesmen converted those errors into a 37-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
With 11 more offensive rebounds (20-9), the Statesmen also owned a 15-6 edge in second-chance points.
Ylitalo paced the victors with 20 points, including three three-pointers. Nwagbaraocha was right behind her with 19 points; the junior was 6-for-9 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line. Both players excelled on the defensive end as well as Ylitalo recorded six steals and Nwagbaraocha posted four steals and two blocks.
Sham Troupe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) contributed eight points along with a squad-best nine rebounds. JeAnn Hiraldo (Sr., Frisco, Texas, Industrial Technology) swished a pair of three-pointers as part of a seven-point effort, while Brynesha Mosby (Jr., Belleville, Ill., Biology) matched her with seven points off the bench as well.
Jenna Santi (Jr., Oak Creek, Wis., Elementary Education) only tallied two points, but coordinated the offense extremely well with eight assists.
The Statesmen overcame a 54.5% clip at the line, while GU made 76.5% of its free throws.
“I am very pleased with our defensive effort and the determination we played with,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “We had a balanced offensive effort and players stepped up with Sarah not in the lineup.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Wednesday to host Peru State in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
