Statesmen Collect First Win of Season
Lamoni–The William Penn women’s basketball team forcibly removed the pesky proverbial monkey off its back with a 60-51 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Graceland Saturday.
WPU (1-13, 1-4 Heart) won for the first time this year by overcoming a 51.2%-34.4% shooting disadvantage, doing so by forcing 23 Yellowjacket turnovers and turning those mistakes into 28 visitor points.
The Statesmen struggled mightily in the opening minutes, not scoring until the 5:04 mark of the first quarter and then owning just two points with only three minutes remaining in the period. Behind 9-2 at that juncture, the visitors slowly warmed up, outscoring GU (3-9, 0-4 Heart) 8-2 down the stretch to make it 11-10 in favor of Graceland entering the second stanza.
Ally Stewart (Jr., Victoria, Australia, Physical Education) had one long ball in the opening quarter and added another trifecta as part of a 9-0 run (14-0 run total) that saw William Penn take the lead for both the first time and for good. The junior knocked down a trio of three-pointers in the second to help WPU build its edge to six at the break, 30-24.
The visiting crew kept rolling in the third quarter, headlined by eight points from Zantasia White (Jr., Lubbock, Texas, Secondary Education) for a game-high 16-point edge at 50-34 late in the period.
Settling on a 50-38 margin after three quarters of action, the Statesmen were primed to get the victory. Graceland had other thoughts, however, and slowly chipped away at the lead until it was just a one-possession game at 52-49 with 2:39 to go.
Fortunately, a pair of free throws and a three-pointer by Stewart extinguished any hopes the Yellowjackets may have had to climb back into the contest. WPU held on despite going 2-for-11 in the period.
Paced by Stewart’s seven trifectas, the Statesmen were 10-for-30 overall from the perimeter. Neither side was very strong at the free-throw line, with WPU going 7-for-12 and GU ending up 5-for-12.
Guided by seven three-pointers, Stewart led all players with 21 points. She was also a thief Saturday, tallying six steals, while WPU posted 14 as a complete crew.
Morgan Terry (Jr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) topped the non-starters with 10 points, while White fell just shy of double figures at nine points. Emma Morts (Jr., Milford, Ill., Business Management) was also a big contributor with seven points and a team-high seven rebounds. Overall, the visitors lost the rebounding battle 31-28. They did, however, post a 12-4 edge on the offensive glass, which netted a 9-4 mark in second-chance points.
Alexis True (Jr., Frankfort, Ky., Exercise Science) matched Morts with seven points in a bench role.
While forcing GU into 23 turnovers, the Statesmen committed just 11 offensive errors themselves.
The win is not only William Penn’s first of the year, but also the first in the head coaching career of Jenna Santi.
“We played hard for 40 minutes,” Santi said. “Everyone went out there and left it on the court. I am proud of this team who has had to fight through adversity every day. A conference road win is a great feeling and I hope we take this momentum to get better.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Nevada, Mo. next Saturday to face Cottey in non-conference action at 1 p.m.
