Statesmen Fall 76-59 to #12 Briar Cliff
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Sioux City–Vanessa Kieres (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Physical Education) was terrific off the bench, but she unfortunately was a one-woman show in William Penn’s 76-59 loss to #12 Briar Cliff in non-conference women’s basketball play Friday.
Kieres scored a career-high 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting, including a 4-for-8 perimeter showing (5-for-7 FT as well). The Statesmen (3-1) as a whole, however, shot just 25.4% from the field (18.4% 3-PT) and 57.9% at the line in dropping their first contest of the year.
The visitors never led Friday, falling behind quickly courtesy of a 48.4%-18.2% first-half shooting deficit. Briar Cliff, which is now 3-0, saw its advantage narrow to 16 points a few times in the early minutes of the second stanza, but William Penn failed to mount much of a comeback.
Kieres, who also topped her team with seven rebounds, was the only WPU player in double figures. Dani Stahle (Sr., South Weber, Utah, History/Government & Psychology) was next with seven points and a team-high four steals.
Alyssa Phillips (Fr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) added six points and Jessie Kreuser (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Undecided) had five. Makenzie Ficek (Sr., Eugene, Ore., Sociology) finished with a squad-high four assists and three steals in addition to four points.
The Statesmen were outrebounded 58-41 by the Chargers, but 14 offensive boards (17 for BCU) helped the navy and gold to a 15-12 edge in second-chance points. William Penn also kept it respectable by committing four less turnovers (23-27) than Briar Cliff. Both teams spent plenty of time at the charity stripe with the visitors going 22-for-38 (BCU was 22-for-33).
“We played with little-to-no respect for the game and our opponent tonight,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “We really let ourselves down. Vanessa Kieres had a great effort, but as a team, we just did not want to compete.”
Next: William Penn remains in Sioux City Saturday to face #3 Morningside in non-conference play at 2 p.m.
