Season Concludes with Semifinal Loss to Queen Bees
The Lady Statesmen’s season came to an end last night against St. Ambrose.
Oskaloosa–The William Penn women’s basketball team could not overcome a tough shooting performance as its year ended with a 77-66 loss to #3 seed St. Ambrose in the semifinals of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Sunday.
The second-seeded Statesmen (19-10) trailed just 30-28 at halftime, but the Queen Bees (24-6) owned a 46.2%-36.4% shooting edge in the second stanza to pull away. William Penn lost the overall battle 37.1%-31.4%.
The hosts rolled out to a 12-4 advantage just 4:39 into the afternoon, but the visitors answered with ten straight. William Penn was able to regain the lead at 18-15 only to see five unanswered put the navy and gold in the rearview the remainder of the contest (four ties). The sixth and final tie was at 30-30 only 13 seconds into the second half.
The Statesmen trailed 44-43 with 12:42 left on the clock. The Queen Bees unfortunately came up with an 8-0 run and the margin never narrowed closer than five points after that. St. Ambrose will now travel to Des Moines Tuesday to face top-seeded Grand View in the tourney’s championship game at 6 p.m.
Katie Golomski (So., Milwaukee, Wis., Psychology) was the most effective William Penn player Sunday, scoring 15 points, including three three-pointers.
Janay Pritchett (So., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology) was next with 14 points, while Sarah Martin (Sr., Anthem, Ariz., Physical Education) added 12 points and a team-high six assists.
Orielle Thomas (Sr., Waynesville, Mo., Physical Education) notched her 15th double-double with ten points with 18 rebounds in her career finale. The senior reached 18 rebounds for the fourth time this year.
William Penn came up a bit short on the boards, 49-43, and also had one more turnover than the visitors, 12-11. The Statesmen were also doomed at the charity stripe, getting outshot 24-16.
The loss ends the career of Martin, Thomas, Morgan Evans (Creston, Iowa, Industrial Technology), and Taylor Reed (Sr., Kalamazoo, Mich., Communication).
“I want to thank this senior class for all they did to get us back fighting for the conference title this year,” William Penn Head Coach Mike Brown said. “To improve seven wins from last year is great and has set us up for a bright future, beginning with next year.”
“This was a tough loss that will sting for a while,” Brown said. “We had a lot of talent this year and had higher aspirations, but it was not meant to be. We will work hard in the offseason to put ourselves in position to again win a conference crown and go to nationals.”
