Women Cagers Fight Hard in Exhibition Loss to D-2 Augustana
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Sioux Falls, S.D.–In a game purely played to see where it stood against one of the best programs in the Midwest, the Statesmen women’s basketball team put a scare into Augustana (S.D.), falling 75-65 in a non-conference exhibition game Tuesday.
William Penn (3-4), which was tied once in the early going, pushed the 11th-ranked team in NCAA Division II much further than the host probably expected. Despite trailing by as much as 20 points with 6:46 left in the first half, the navy and gold tightened up the contest to 45-32 at intermission.
The deficit was still 17 points past the midway point of the second stanza, but the Statesmen refused to go away. Seven unanswered cut the score to 66-56 with 5:28 remaining in regulation. WPU actually narrowed the margin to eight on three separate occasions in the final minutes, but could get no closer.
The Vikings (2-0) barely outshot the Statesmen 35.7%-35.6%, including being limited to only 25.0% after halftime. William Penn stayed with the D-II program in other areas, committing just three more turnovers (20-17) and pulling down just two fewer rebounds (49-51).
Janay Pritchett (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology & Sociology) topped all players with 19 points in addition to three assists and two steals.
Brittany May (Sr., Gladstone, Ore., Biology) also reached double figures with 13 points (three three-pointers), while Katie Golomski (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Psychology & Sociology) added eight points.
Jessie Kreuser (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Physical Education) scored six points, but had a much bigger impact on the glass with a career-high 17 rebounds. Lauren McKinnis (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Sociology) matched Kreuser’s point tally with six points of her own.
Pritchett, Dani Stahle (Sr., South Weber, Utah, History/Government & Psychology), and Vanessa Kieres (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) all managed two steals on the night.
“Our ladies gave a great effort tonight,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “We were a little askew in our first-half rotations and gave up too many good looks behind the arc. We had a lot of great bench support, especially in the second half. Jessie was huge on the glass and Brittany came up with some big three-pointers. In the end, though, we just had too many mistakes against a high-caliber D-2 team. This is a good performance to build upon.”
Next: William Penn travels to Quincy, Ill. to compete in the Quincy Tournament Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Statesmen meet NCAA D-2 Northwood (Mich.) in an exhibition contest at 5 p.m. They then take on Benedictine-Springfield (Ill.) Saturday at 2 p.m.
