Statesmen Lights Out in Second Half for Road Win
Springfield, Mo.–The William Penn women’s basketball team rebounded from a heart-wrenching loss less than 48 hours earlier, rallying past Evangel 89-79 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
After letting a late lead slip away Thursday night, #20 WPU (16-5, 12-4 Heart) overcame a 16-point first-half deficit by shooting over 70% from the field after the break to finish the season sweep of the Crusaders (12-9, 10-6 Heart).
EU drew first blood and was in control throughout the opening 20 minutes. Down just 18-14 after one quarter, the navy and gold permitted the home squad to go on a 16-4 run for a 39-23 edge. Fortunately, the Statesmen managed to chip away and only trailed 41-33 at intermission.
Still down multiple scores at 49-40 with 6:23 to go in the third period, WPU began its comeback. The visitors scored 11 unanswered points as part of 19-5 run, capturing the advantage for good on a bucket by Bailey Reardon (Fr., River Falls, Wis., Elementary Education) inside of two minutes remaining in the quarter. WPU finished the stanza by scoring on nine of its last 11 possessions and turning a nine-point deficit into a four-point lead at 61-57.
During the rally, no one was more on fire than Kate Ylitalo (Sr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology), who connected on five consecutive three-pointers. The senior finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting, highlighted by a 7-for-10 showing from the perimeter. She also pulled down nine rebounds to pace all participants.
William Penn then began the fourth with eight of the first 10 points to go up by double figures and kept Evangel at bay down the stretch. The Statesmen were limited to 33 points at halftime, but scored 28 points each in both the third and fourth quarters.
The victors shot just 39.4% in the first 20 minutes of play, but completely flipped the script with a 73.1% clip in the latter half (77.8% 3-PT). At the final buzzer, the Statesmen held a 54.2%-43.1% shooting advantage, including a 55.0%-38.7% mark from the perimeter. WPU struggled from the charity stripe, however, overcoming a 58.3% effort (EU was 65.4% at the line).
Both teams committed 11 turnovers (5-3 edge in points off turnovers for William Penn), while WPU was outrebounded 35-34. The hosts dominated the extra opportunity battle with a 12-3 margin in second-chance points.
Ylitalo was one of four Statesmen in double digits. Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) was next with 16 points (10 in the first half), while Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) finished with 14 and Olivia Usher (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mathematics) had 10. Usher dished out five assists as well, while Mullinnix topped the defense with three steals.
Reardon, with nine points, Autumn Voigt (Sr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management), with eight, and Brittany West (Jr., Shakopee, Minn., Sports Management), with seven, were also major offensive contributors in the victory.
“We played with great effort in the second half after digging ourselves an early hole,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “Our players battled together and made a lot of effort plays to beat a very good team on the road.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Wednesday to face Grand View in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
