William Penn Wins Defensive Contest
Atchison, Kan.–The Statesmen women’s basketball team struggled offensively, but was extremely impressive on the other end as it defeated Benedictine 53-44 in a Heart of America Athletic Conference matchup Saturday.
In a battle of two programs receiving votes nationally (BC entered at #26, WPU was #27), William Penn (14-4, 10-3 Heart) won its fourth-straight game (10-1 in last 11), moving into sole possession of second place in the league after Heart-leading Central Methodist beat Grand View.
The visitors were limited to just 35.3% from the field (18-for-51), but kept the host Ravens (13-7, 7-7 Heart) to an even lower 28.1% clip (16-for-57).
The low-scoring affair started even slower as William Penn led 9-4 after 10 minutes of action. The Statesmen edge was trimmed to two points at 16-14 midway through the second quarter, but the navy and gold finished the half on an 11-2 run for a 27-16 intermission edge. At the halfway point, WPU was outshooting Benedictine 28.6%-22.2%.
William Penn continued to stay in control of the game throughout much of the latter half until five consecutive Raven points made it a three-point bout at 46-43 inside of three minutes to go.
Fortunately, the Statesmen closed strong with seven unanswered points to grab the victory.
Kate Ylitalo (Sr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) and Olivia Usher (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mathematics) tied for the game high with 11 points each. Usher also pulled down seven rebounds Saturday, while Ylitalo stole two passes.
Brittany West (Jr., Shakopee, Minn., Sports Management) was next with eight points off the bench, while Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) scored six points and dished out four assists. Bailey Reardon (Fr., River Falls, Wis., Elementary Education)–the lone Statesmen to shoot better than 50%–also added six points in a non-starting role.
Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) contributed five points as well.
WPU won despite being outrebounded 43-34 (outscored 11-8 in second-chance points). The navy and gold were stronger in ball control with three fewer turnovers (8-11), but did fall short in points off mistakes (13-8).
The squads were nearly identical from behind the arc as WPU was 5-for-21 (23.8%) and BC was 7-for-30 (23.3%), but William Penn kept BC at bay with a near-perfect free-throw outing. The Statesmen were 12-for-13 at the line, while the Ravens struggled to the tune of 50.0% (5-for-10).
“Any time you can go on the road to Benedictine and get a win is good because they play extremely hard,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “They outworked us on the boards, was our defense was solid and we made plays on offense when we needed. This was not our best game, but we will definitely take the win.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Lamoni next Monday to face Graceland in Heart play at 5:30 p.m.
