Lady Statesmen Reach First Semifinal in Seven Years
William Penn's Orielle Thomas attacks the basket for 2 of her 13 points in the Lady Statesmen's win over Clarke February 24, 2011
Oskaloosa–The Penn women’s basketball team made history Thursday night in a 77-48 defeat of Clarke in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Lady Statesmen (22-9), playing in what is believed to be their first-ever home conference tournament game (definitely their first since joining the MCC), won their first MCC tourney contest since February 28, 2004, knocking off Waldorf 78-75 in the semifinals and snapping a skid of six-straight setbacks.
Penn now advances to Saturday’s semifinal round to face #2 seed Mount Mercy, who was a 66-48 victor over #7 Viterbo. On the other side of the bracket, top seed St. Ambrose disposed of #8 Waldorf 66-41 and #4 Iowa Wesleyan pounded #5 Grand View 78-43.
The Lady Statesmen split with the Mustangs this season, winning 74-66 in overtime in Oskaloosa on December 4 and then falling 87-67 in Cedar Rapids on January 29.
The early going was a struggle for the Lady Statesmen Thursday as the home team fell behind by as much as six at 17-11 with 12:14 remaining in the first stanza.
Penn figured it out a few minutes later, eventually taking the lead for good at 25-24 on a pair of free throws by Christa Subbert (Sr., Stanton, Stanton HS). The senior finished with a game-high 18 points and surpassed the 2,100-point plateau (2,103 points). She is now just 36 points shy of the school all-time scoring record (Becky Inman, 2,139 points).
The Lady Statesmen led 31-24 at intermission, but Clarke (9-21) remained a pest in the opening minutes of the second half, narrowing the deficit to six at 45-39 with 11:37 left in regulation.
The hosts were not going to be denied the win, though, and outscored the Crusaders 32-9 to close out the matchup.
Orielle Thomas (Fr., Waynesville, Mo., Waynesville HS) recorded a relatively quiet double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. It was her fifth such performance of the campaign. She guided Penn to a dominating board performance (46-30), which led to a 20-3 edge in second-chance points.
Kim Thompson (So., Park Forest, Ill., Upper Iowa), with 12 points off the bench, and Samantha Darley (Sr., Gilbert, Ariz., Mesa CC), with 11 points, also reached double figures.
Rachel Butler (Sr., Orange County, Calif., Cerritos CC) just missed the mark with nine and Christie Menard (Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Chaffey CC) contributed six in the win.
Sarah Martin (So., Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) was held scoreless, but that did not stop her from recording six assists. Subbert and Thomas blocked two shots each and Subbert posted two thefts as well.
Clarke was forced into 19 turnovers, good for 24 Lady Statesmen points. Penn was also efficient at the charity stripe, finishing 8-of-9.
The team’s 22 wins matches the most since 1985-1986 when the program finished 22-7.
“This was another great team win,” Lady Statesmen Head Coach Brian Spielbauer said. “It was our first conference tournament win in a long time and it feels really good to go on to the next round. We had contributions from a lot of people and obviously Christa Subbert and Orielle Thomas did a great job. Christa is getting double-teamed by every team down the stretch but is still finding ways to put up big points. That says a lot about the type of player she is.”
“We really look forward to playing Mount Mercy again on Saturday and hope to see a lot of our fans up there for the game.”
