William Penn Opens League Action with 63-41 Win Over Mustangs
William Penn’s Sham Troupe in action Wednesday night against Mount Mercy.
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–If the Statesmen women’s basketball team can maintain its level of defensive success, it will be in contention every night in the Heart of America Athletic Conference as witnessed by Wednesday’s 63-41 league-opening win over Mount Mercy Mustangs.
WPU (7-3, 1-0 Heart), which is off to its best 10-game start since 1992-1993 (8-2), held the Mustangs (1-6, 0-1 Heart) to just 28.0% shooting in the victory.
MMU was ice cold to begin the game, making only one of its 12 first-quarter shots. Unfortunately, the hosts could not put an early nail in the coffin and were ahead just 12-7 after the opening period.
Both sides improved a bit overall in the next quarter as the Statesmen pulled out to a 30-16 halftime advantage. Mount Mercy was limited to just four made field goals by halftime.
The third quarter witnessed even more offense as WPU outscored its foe 19-17 to extend its edge to 20 points before MMU narrowed the margin to 49-33.
The home crew was not threatened in the final 10 minutes of a game in which the victors shot 43.9% and outrebounded the losing side 42-30. The Statesmen outscored the visitors 11-6 in second-chance points as they tallied a 14-9 advantage on the offensive glass. JeAnn Hiraldo (Sr., Frisco, Texas, Industrial Technology) corralled a game-best eight rebounds.
WPU kept MMU to single figures in three of the game’s four quarters.
William Penn also forced 18 MMU turnovers (15 for WPU), converting them into a 13-6 edge in points off mistakes. Jenna Santi (Jr., Oak Creek, Wis., Elementary Education) came up with three steals (11 for WPU) in addition to four points and a game-high seven assists.
Sarah Hansen (Sr., Kewanee, Ill., Psychology and Human Services) was not allowed to be a factor pre-halftime as she was whistled for three early fouls, but the senior made up for that with a trio of long balls after the break. She paced all scorers with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting (3-for-4 3-PT).
A quartet of Statesmen accounted for eight points each, including Kate Ylitalo (So., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology), Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science), Sham Troupe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.), and Shamiah Oliver (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Education).
“It is nice to start conference play with a win,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “Our defense won the game for us and led to some easy transition buckets. We still have a lot of work to do, though, to compete in this conference.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Peru, Neb. Saturday to face Peru State in Heart action at 2 p.m.
