William Penn Falls on the Road
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Wichita, Kan.–Brittany May (Sr., Gladstone, Ore., Biology) tried to put the Statesmen offense on her shoulders and came up with a career high in points, but it was not enough in a 64-59 non-conference women’s basketball loss to Friends Tuesday.
May hit six of her squad’s seven three-pointers en route to a game-high 24 points. Unfortunately, William Penn (7-7) failed to overcome having more turnovers (22-17) and fewer rebounds (33-45) in the loss. Friends took advantage of winning both areas with an 11-9 edge in second-chance points and a 17-13 margin in points off turnovers.
In a contest where the lead swayed back and forth, the teams were tied 32-32 at intermission, courtesy of a 9-1 run by WPU to close out the first half.
The visitors regained the advantage after halftime and pulled out to a 52-46 edge inside of seven minutes left. The Eagles (10-4) responded with 12 unanswered, however, and never trailed again. The Statesmen were able to close the gap to two with 13 seconds left, but three Friends free throws denied the navy and gold who outshot the home team 39.6%-37.3%.
William Penn finished 10-for-16 at the free-throw line, while the Eagles had many more opportunities, going 17-for-29 on the night.
Dani Stahle (Sr., South Weber, Utah, History/Government & Psychology) had an all-around performance with 13 points and team highs in rebounds (8) and steals (2).
Vanessa Kieres (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) and Alyssa Phillips (Fr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) each managed seven points, while Susan Smith (Sr., Eugene, Ore., Biology) tallied seven assists.
“Losing the rebounding and turnover battles hurt us,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “We are really struggling offensively at times. Hopefully, we can come back tomorrow and compete a little better.”
Next: William Penn travels to North Newton, Kan. Wednesday to face Bethel in non-conference play at 5 p.m.
