Williams Pours in 18 Off Bench, WPU Fails to Complete Season Sweep of GVU
William Penn University Athletics
Des Moines–Keshunda Williams (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management) performed well beyond her years and nearly single-handedly willed the William Penn women’s basketball team to victory, but in the end rival Grand View was too much as WPU fell 65-57 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Monday.
William Penn (13-8, 11-6 Heart) did not go down without a great effort, especially from its freshman point guard.
Williams played in just 15 minutes in a non-starting role, with every second coming after halftime. Once she got hot, though, she stayed that way en route to an 18-point performance. She was 8-for-13 from the field and also recorded two assists, two steals, and one block.
The Statesmen, who were outshot 39.2%-35.5% by the Vikings (11-11, 8-10 Heart), ended the first half in a 25-25 tie. The contest went back and forth prior to intermission with 10 ties and seven lead changes, but the second half witnessed just one tie at 43-43 in the last minute of the third quarter.
GVU tacked on the final point of the period and never trailed again. The hosts pulled out to an eight-point edge early in the final quarter, but WPU would not throw in the towel, drawing to within one at 54-53 just over two minutes later. Williams connected on three of her team’s four buckets during that stretch and added two more shots in the ensuing minutes.
Unfortunately, down just two at 59-57 with 1:35 on the clock, the Statesmen ran out of go-juice as the Vikings managed the last six points to claim the win.
William Penn outrebounded the home team 45-38 (20-10 offensive) and posted a 15-10 advantage in second-chance points. The navy and gold were unable to reconcile their poor shooting, though, as they were just 2-for-17 from deep and 11-for-23 from the line (2-for-7 after halftime).
Alyssa Phillips (Sr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) and Asia Roper (Sr., Aurora, Colo., Psychology) joined Williams in double figures with 10 points each, while Jessica Warren (Sr., Park Forest, Ill., Physical Education) added six and Vashti Nwagbaraocha (So., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) ended the night with five points in addition to a team-best nine rebounds.
Phillips and Nwagbaraocha both assisted three times, while Roper recorded three steals and two blocks. Both WPU and GVU each committed 21 turnovers Monday.
“This was a tough loss,” Head Coach Willie Scott said. “As the leader of this program, it is my job to teach our players how to dig deep down inside themselves, to stay together, fight adversity, and take the loss and regroup. This is the toughest time of the year and only the strong will survive. Now we have to pull it together, stop making mistakes, and start making free throws.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Thursday to host Avila in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
