William Penn Knocks Off Clarke with Big Second Half

Dubuque–The Statesmen women’s basketball team got the better of fellow top-25 program Clarke Monday, claiming a 69-62 victory in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.

#25 WPU (5-3, 3-2 Heart) dropped the 19th-ranked Pride (7-2, 3-2 Heart) with a 46.2%-39.3% shooting advantage.

The visitors struggled in the early minutes, falling behind 13-6 midway through the first period. The deficit grew to as large as 10 at 23-13 in the opening seconds of the second quarter, but the Statesmen battled back and eventually drew even at 33-33 by halftime.

Nyachristmas Puok (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Biology) and Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) guided the navy and gold through the first 20 minutes of competition with nine points apiece, but Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) took over in the third period with 11 points (three three-pointers) in addition to two rebounds and a steal. Behind Mullinnix, WPU turned a late four-point deficit into a four-point advantage at 53-49 with 10 minutes left on the clock.

William Penn never relinquished the lead again, pushing the edge to 10 points twice in the waning minutes. After being outshot 48.0%-40.0% before the break, the Statesmen controlled the second-half shooting category at 54.5%-32.3%.

Pennington had a full game, leading all scorers with 20 points (6-for-12 FG, 7-for-7 FT). WPU was nearly perfect at the charity stripe at 14-for-16.

Mullinnix was next with 16 points (13 in the second half), while Puok was good for an additional 11. Olivia Usher (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mathematics) managed five points, while Autumn Voigt (Sr., Clintonville, Wis., Business Management) topped the visiting squad with eight rebounds. William Penn lost the rebounding battle 32-29, however.

Ball control played a huge part in Monday’s outcome. The visiting navy and gold committed 11 turnovers, compared to 15 for CU, and were much more opportunistic with a 13-2 margin in points off mistakes.

“I am very happy with the way we played,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “We finally shot the ball well and got good minutes from our bench players. We need to build off this win and keep improving; we still have a lot to get better at.”

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Thursday to host Graceland in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.

Posted by on Dec 3 2019. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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