Free Throw Trouble Dooms William Penn in Loss to Evangel
William Penn University Athletics
Springfield, Mo.–The Statesmen women’s basketball team failed to cash in on its free throws Saturday, falling 90-83 to Evangel in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.
WPU (14-9, 12-7 Heart), which fell out of a tie for fourth place in the league, could not overcome a tough day at the charity stripe. The visitors were just 18-for-33 at the line, while the Crusaders (10-13, 9-11 Heart) basically won the game there with a 31-for-34 performance.
The first 15 minutes of game play saw the teams jockey for the advantage, but EU took the lead for good at 32-30; the hosts eventually led 43-37 at halftime.
William Penn earned 24 free tries after intermission, but converted only 12 of them as the Crusaders pulled away. The navy and gold, who got within five points in the third period and six in the final stanza, could not get over the hump.
The Statesmen were outshot 44.6%-40.0%, but countered with a great rebounding effort at 48-33. WPU unfortunately only turned 20 offensive rebounds into a 9-5 edge in second-chance points. Evangel had four fewer turnovers than William Penn (16-20), but it was the Statesmen who topped the points off turnovers category at 9-6. All of that unfortunately was not enough to put William Penn on top.
Alyssa Phillips (Sr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds; she was 6-for-9 from the field.
Three other Statesmen also reached double figures, paced by Kate Ylitalo (Fr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) with 16 points. Sarah Hansen (Jr., Kewanee, Ill., Psychology and Human Services) ended up with 11 points and Brynesha Mosby (So., Belleville, Ill., Biology) tallied 10.
Keshunda Williams (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management), with nine points, and Asia Roper (Sr., Aurora, Colo., Psychology), with six, contributed on the offensive end as well.
“This was a tough road loss; we cannot continue to beat ourselves with poor free-throw shooting and so many unforced errors,” Head Coach Willie Scott said. “I do like how our younger players continue to make progress though. We just have to stay together and keep working hard.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Wednesday to host MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
