William Penn Finishes Season Sweep of Graceland
Lamoni–The Statesmen women’s basketball team proved yet again it is great at making halftime adjustments as it gained separation from its foe after the break for a 63-48 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Graceland Monday.
WPU (15-4, 11-3 Heart) led just 32-27 at the midway point, but collected its fifth-consecutive win and kept the Yellowjackets (3-18, 0-15 Heart) winless in the league by outshooting them 43.3%-25.8% in the latter half.
GU tallied the evening’s first two points, only to witness the visitors answer with seven straight. William Penn looked primed for a runaway win, but the hosts were up for the battle as the Statesmen led only 12-11 after 10 minutes of competition.
Graceland concluded a 10-0 run to go up 17-12 early in the second period, but WPU caught some wind in its proverbial sail to recapture the advantage. The sides exchanged leads a couple more times before a three-pointer by Olivia Usher (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mathematics) put the navy and gold on top for good. Another trifecta by Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) as time expired earned William Penn a 32-27 edge at intermission.
The Yellowjackets, for the third quarter in a row, put the first points on the board coming out of the locker room. Fortunately, the much bigger run was recorded by the Statesmen as they scored 13 unanswered and were never threatened again.
A 50-40 lead entering the fourth stanza grew to a game-high 21 down the stretch as WPU managed to hold sole possession of second place in the Heart, just 1.5 games behind league-leading Central Methodist. A huge battle for second is next on the slate for William Penn as #21 Clarke comes to Oskaloosa on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip.
The victors outshot GU 38.5%-29.3% and outrebounded their host 44-41. Although there were 36 combined offensive rebounds (20-16 in favor of WPU), the Statesmen only held a 13-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Kate Ylitalo (Sr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) topped her crew with 18 points, headlined by a quartet of long balls. Autumn Voigt (Sr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management) was next with 12 points, while Pennington also secured double figures with 10 points. Pennington narrowly missed a double-double, also posting nine rebounds along with three assists and three steals.
Usher was good for eight points, while Makenzie Pezley (Sr., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) contributed six and Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) had five in addition to a squad-best four assists.
William Penn forced 17 turnovers (10 giveaways for the Statesmen), but was only able to turn those into four points; Graceland did not score off of a WPU mistake.
WPU also overcame a 4-for-11 effort at the free-throw line Monday.
“We struggled badly in the first half, not playing to our level yet again,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “I thought we finally played to our level in the second half and that Autumn Voigt, headlined by her rebounding, probably had the best half of her career after halftime.”
“Kate Ylitalo and Brenda Pennington were solid like always and we got some good minutes from Olivia Usher and Haley Mullinnix, but we need our bench to step up like it did earlier in the year,” Williamson added.
