Statesmen Complete Heart of America Athletic Conference Sweep
The William Penn Women’s Basketball Team completed conference play by also wrapping up the tournament championship in addition to the regular season title.
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa—The William Penn Women’s Basketball team entered Monday night having already won the Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season title with aspirations of even more. The ladies had an opportunity to leave no doubt in anybody’s mind who the best team in the conference is with a Heart of America Tournament Championship showdown with Culver-Stockton.
The Statesmen (30-2, 22-2 Heart) came in winners of 12 straight with their most recent win coming against the Clarke Pride who they defeated 66-44 in the semifinals. The Wildcats (19-14, 12-12 Heart) were the Cinderella story of the tourney upsetting both MidAmerica Nazarene and Central Methodist. That fairy tale came to an end as William Penn continued its own story book season with a 67-57 win.
The navy and gold shot 40% from the field, opposed to just 35% for Culver-Stockton. The ladies also managed to convert on 32% (6-19) of their three-point attempts while the visitors shot just 25% from distance.
WPU was able to get on the board first on a layup by Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) but quickly found themselves down 8-4 after a Wildcats run. The ladies returned the favor with a run of their own capped off with a three-pointer courtesy of Kate Ylitalo (Jr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology). The rest of the quarter, however, was all Culver-Stockton as they were able to compile an 18-11 lead at the end of the period.
The ladies found their mojo in the second quarter outscoring their opponents 21-6 and grabbed the lead at the 4:48 mark on another three-ball by Ylitalo. Ylitalo scored eight points in the quarter to help propel her team to an eight-point lead at the half 32-24.
Jenna Santi (Sr., Oak Creek, Wis., Sports Management) scored the first four points coming out of the locker room as her team began to pour it on the second half. WPU opened as large as a 20-point lead. The visitors didn’t go quietly though. Culver-Stockton mounted a run to cut the lead to just eight points with 1:10 to go in the game but William Penn turned to their All-American Nwagbaraocha who received a pass from Santi and finished off the glass to push the lead back to 10 with 40 seconds left. The clock hit 0:00 and the celebration was on as the Statesmen cut down the nets on their home court for the second time in as many weeks.
The ladies finished the season 16-0 in Penn Gymnasium.
Nwagbaraocha tallied a double-double with 22 points and 17 rebounds while Ylitalo narrowly missed a double-double of her own scoring 16 points and grabbing eight boards. The facilitating duo of Santi and Brenda Pennington (Jr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) orchestrated the offense and each posted four assists to lead the team. Santi scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds while Pennington scored eight points with seven rebounds.
Makenzie Pezley (So., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) played some quality minutes off the bench pouring in seven points and corralling six rebounds.
William Penn won the battle of the boards 47-37 in the victory.
“I can’t say enough about this team! Their toughness and will to win.” Head Coach Steve Williamson said, “To win the Heart of American Athletic Conference Championship is something a lot of people never thought was possible. This team proved a lot of people wrong. Words cannot describe how proud I am of this team and my coaching staff for all they have done.”
Next up: William Penn will compete at the NAIA National Tournament in Billings, Mo. with their first-round matchup to be decided on Wednesday. A viewing party will be held on Wednesday in the Chief Mahaska room at 5 p.m.
