Stewart with 24 as WPU Falls to Graceland
Lamoni–The William Penn women’s basketball team could not overcome a tough third quarter as it fell 59-51 to Graceland in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
WPU (8-12, 5-9 Heart) was outshot by Yellowjackets (9-11, 4-10 Heart) 37.7%-32.8%, but helped by six long balls from Ally Stewart (Sr., Victoria, Australia, Physical Education), the visiting squad was stronger from behind the arc at 27.6%-20.0%.
The navy and gold got the scoring going with a three-pointer from Stewart. The rest of the quarter was back and forth between the teams. Stewart managed to connect on another trifecta at the end of the stanza, giving the Statesmen a 15-12 lead going into the second.
William Penn opened the second period with another trifecta from Stewart, but scoring slowed as the home team cut into the Statesmen lead. WPU led 24-23 at intermission.
Graceland flipped the script after halftime with the visitors being outscored 17-10 in the third quarter and entering the fourth trailing 40-34.
In the final stanza, WPU found some offense as a layup from Morgan Terry (Sr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) and a three-pointer from Aiesha Feagins (Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) cut the deficit to 44-39, but it was not enough as the home responded to every Statesmen challenge to claim the win.
Guided by her perimeter prowess, Stewart had a huge afternoon, topping all scorers with 24 points. Terry joined her in double figures with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds; the senior added four assists as well.
Feagins also contributed six points in Saturday’s setback.
The navy and gold nearly found their way to the winner’s circle despite being outrebounded 48-33 and committing 17 turnovers (15 for GU). The mistakes led to 20 points off turnovers for the Yellowjackets. Although it lost the rebounding battle, WPU, which had 10 offensive boards, actually outscored GU 17-16 in second-chance points.
Next Up: William Penn will return to Oskaloosa next Wednesday to face off against Culver-Stockton in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
