William Penn Drops First Game of the Season Against MNU

William Penn University Athletics

by Wade Steinlage

Olathe, Kan.—The Statesmen women’s basketball team was on the road again on Saturday, taking on MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.

William Penn (8-1) came into the matchup having not suffered a loss to this point in the season but ran into the 12th ranked MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers (9-1) team on their home court. WPU played tough but dropped the game 72-60.

The Statesmen were outshot by their counterpart .463-.329, and struggled from beyond the arc shooting just 29%.

WPU had three scorers reach double-digit point totals headlined by Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) who posted 15 points along with five rebounds, while Kate Ylitalo (Jr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) added 15 more and nine rebounds. Shamiah Oliver (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Education) rounded out the trio with 12 points.

Brenda Pennington (Jr., Hammond, Ind.) got in a little bit of foul trouble but still managed to lead the team in assists with six. Jenna Santi (Sr., Oak creek, Wis., Sports Management) finished the night with six points and four boards while Makenzie Pezley (So., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) chipped in two points and a pair of assists and Autumn Voigt (Jr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management) produced six points off of the bench.

William Penn kept things close throughout the first half and led by as many as seven points in the first quarter but a strong run by the Pioneers at the end of the first half put the home team up three.

Unfortunately, the Pioneers would retain that momentum they took at the end of the first half and opened up as large as a 14 point lead before taking the game.

The Statesmen were out rebounded by a bigger Pioneer team 44-38 and had 15 shots blocked, despite winning the turnover battle 21-15.

Next Up: William Penn will return home and host Peru State on Saturday, December 9, at the Penn Gymnasium, at 2 PM.