WPU Completes Season Sweep of Avila
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Kansas City, Mo.–The Statesmen women’s basketball team pulled away down the stretch for a 55-46 win over Avila in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
William Penn (9-10, 6-6 Heart) remains in an offensive funk as it was outshot 31.9%-31.5%, but it came up with the necessary points in the waning minutes to finish its regular-season sweep of Avila (also won 73-66 in November).
The visitors led for most of the game, including being ahead 28-24 at intermission. The advantage grew to as much as seven in the third period, but the navy and gold could not get away from the Eagles (3-16, 2-10 Heart).
AU finally caught up to WPU at 44-44 and actually took the lead at 45-44, but the Statesmen defense and offensive rebounding stepped to the forefront to close out the win with a 12-1 run over the final 3:20 of regulation. Following the free throws that put Avila ahead, WPU had back-to-back possessions in which it claimed an offensive rebound and then tallied second-chance points. A few free throws secured the victory in the final minute.
William Penn had chances to widen the gap, but a 16-for-31 showing at the charity stripe prevented that from happening. The victors were able to force Avila into 24 turnovers (17 for WPU).
Alyssa Phillips (Jr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) was the lone Statesmen in double figures with 10 points in addition to eight rebounds and three blocks. Both sides finished with 32 rebounds in the contest.
Sabrina Avery (Fr., Riverside, Calif., Psychology and Sociology) had a near double-double as well with eight points and eight rebounds, while Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) and Destiny Spinner (Sr., Saginaw, Mich., Biology) each finished with eight points and three steals.
“I thought we played well defensively,” Head Coach Willie Scott said. “We guarded the three-point line a lot better today. We did not shoot it well and still missed too many free throws, but we will keep working hard to fix those issues.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Wednesday to host Missouri Valley in Heart play at 5:30 p.m. The game will serve as Upward Youth Basketball Night.
