Huge Run Helps Statesmen to Road Win
Cedar Rapids–The William Penn women’s basketball team overcame several issues to slip past Mount Mercy 57-51 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Thursday.
The Statesmen (5-4, 5-3 Heart), playing without starting point guard Maci Kuchta (Fr., Columbia, Mo., Biology) due to injury, trailed by as many as 11 points early in the third quarter, but rallied with an incredible 21 unanswered points. Still not out of the woods, the squad fought off the Mustangs (1-4, 1-4 Heart) down the stretch to claim victory.
Little went right for the visitors offensively in the first half as they trailed 23-20 at the break, including shooting just 26.9% from the field (16.7% 3-PT) and 36.4% from the free-throw line. Bailey Reardon (So., River Falls, Wis., Elementary Education), who entered averaging 9.8 points per game, unfortunately struggled to get anything going and suffered foul trouble.
Reardon’s teammates, however, namely Lakyla Moore (Jr., Norfolk, Neb., Business Management), came to the rescue. With the margin ballooned to 11 at 31-20 with 7:01 to go in the third quarter, WPU huddled in a timeout and came out a different squad.
Brittany West (Sr., Shakopee, Minn., Sports Management) connected on a three-pointer and Moore followed with another. Morgan Terry (Jr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) added a three-point play before Moore added the next four points, highlighted by another trifecta and in a matter of just over three minutes the Statesmen erased the deficit.
When the dust cleared on the run, William Penn scored at least one point on nine consecutive possessions and pulled ahead by 10 points at 41-31. Moore tallied 12 of the 21 points as part of her game-high 27 points.
The Mustangs refused to go away, though, posting a 10-0 of their own and recapturing the advantage midway through the final stanza. The sides exchanged buckets, but West’s three-pointer with 2:46 to go put the Statesmen ahead for good at 46-44.
MMU did close to within one twice more, but Caroline Hoppock (Jr., Olathe, Kan., Biology) answered the final call with a long bomb and the team made five of its last six free throws to ice the contest.
After its slow start, WPU warmed up to 42.9% in the second half (50.0% 3-PT); the Statesmen also hit 68.4% (13-for-19) of their free throws after halftime. At the buzzer, the victors outshot Mount Mercy 34.0%-31.4% with a 33.3%-13.0% advantage from behind the arc.
Moore was 9-for-17 from the field with three three-pointers. She was not efficient at the charity stripe early, but closed strong by making all four of her free throws in the waning seconds. The junior also notched team highs in rebounds (8) and steals (6).
West finished with 10 points, as did Breanna Wendland (Jr., Richfield, Minn., Undecided), who also dished out five assists Thursday. The trio of Moore, West, and Wendland played the entire 40 minutes.
Terry and Hoppock both finished with five points off the bench as well.
William Penn was outrebounded 41-33, but committed five fewer turnovers than MMU (17-22).
“We overcame a lot of adversity due to injuries and got a win on the road,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “It was not pretty, but a win on the road is huge no matter what. I was very impressed with our players’ guts and determination in the second half.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Tuesday to host Park in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.