William Penn Knocks Off #18 Hastings 52-49
William Penn Women’s Basketball (file photo)
Seward, Neb.–The Lady Statesmen basketball team did not have a player in double figures, but balance and great defense was enough to lift William Penn past #18 Hastings (Neb.) 52-49 at the Concordia Cattle Classic Friday.
The Lady Statesmen (2-0) shot just 31.3%, but limited the Broncos to a 26.6% clip, including a meager 21.9% mark after halftime.
William Penn trailed 28-24 at intermission with Arielle McClellan (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif., Psychology) topping the team with six points.
“Arielle was good in the first half,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “She really hurt them when we posted her in the blocks.”
The navy and gold came out firing in the second half with seven of the first nine points and never trailed again. The advantage ballooned to as much as six points, but Hastings (0-1) pulled to within one point at 48-47 with 1:44 left.
The teams exchanged buckets over the next minute and a half before Katie Golomski (So., Milwaukee, Wis., Psychology) connected on two crucial free throws to push the lead back to three with eight ticks remaining. The Broncos failed to hit a game-tying trifecta in the final seconds. William Penn is 2-0 for the first time in four years.
Sam Abens (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) guided the Lady Statesmen with nine points, while Taylor Reed (Sr., Kalamazoo, Mich., Communication) and Janay Pritchett (So., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology) posted seven points each.
The trio of McClellan, Orielle Thomas (Sr., Waynesville, Mo., Physical Education), and Sarah Martin (Sr., Anthem, Ariz., Physical Education) all finished with six points in the win. Thomas also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds as the navy and gold held a 53-49 margin on the glass.
Both teams made three three-pointers, while William Penn was 9-of-12 at the line and Hastings was 12-of-27. The Lady Statesmen committed 15 turnovers, compared to 13 for the Broncos.
“Offensively, we were really poor, but to their credit, Hastings did some things to us with their pressure,” Brown said. “We did not help ourselves much on that side of the ball, but our defense was really strong a large portion of the night. Our post players were huge against their 6’4” center. It was a great team win; we stuck together and fought off a lot of adversity.”
William Penn will conclude the Cattle Classic Saturday by facing host and #1 Concordia (Neb.) at 2 p.m.
“Our reward for this victory is getting the top team in the land on their floor,” Brown said. “It will be an incredible test, but we are excited for it.”
