WPU Falls to Ravens in League Opener

William Penn University Athletics

William Penn University Athletics

Atchison, Kan.–Another strong start gave way to poor late play as the Statesmen women’s basketball team lost 65-50 to Benedictine in its Heart of America Athletic Conference opener Saturday.

William Penn (0-2, 0-1 Heart), which led by eight early and held an advantage in the third quarter, was outscored 38-23 after intermission in the setback.

The visitors were tied with the Ravens (3-2, 1-0 Heart) at 9-9 and then scored eight straight, including back-to-back three-pointers by Brittany West (Sr., Shakopee, Minn., Sports Management) and Caroline Hoppock (Jr., Olathe, Kan., Biology).

Ahead 17-13 after 10 minutes of action, the navy and gold allowed four straight by BC to end the first quarter and four more to begin the second. The teams battled back-and-forth throughout the remainder of the second period, locked in a 27-27 tie at halftime. Lakyla Moore (Jr., Norfolk, Neb.) had 11 points at that juncture. Unfortunately, the junior was shut down after intermission, but still paced her team in scoring with those 11 points.

Maci Kuchta (Fr., Columbia, Mo., Biology) knocked down on a trifecta three minutes into the third quarter for a 35-33 edge, but BC answered right back and the Statesmen never held the lead again. The visitors trailed 49-42 entering the final period, and failed to get any closer down the stretch.

William Penn was outshot 41.8%-40.0%, but bettered the Ravens from the perimeter at 40.0%-37.5%, making eight of its 20 long attempts. The Statesmen came up short at the charity stripe, however, as Benedictine was 13-for-16 and WPU was 6-for-11.

West finished with nine points, while Kuchta was right behind her with eight in her collegiate debut. Zantasia White (Jr., Lubbock, Texas) contributed five points off the bench.

Breanna Wendland (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) guided WPU with seven rebounds as the visiting crew lost the battle of the boards 32-30. Both sides managed eight points in second-chance points.

The navy and gold committed 22 turnovers, compared to 14 mistakes by BC. That led the Statesmen to a possible game-changing 15-8 deficit in points off turnovers.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Wednesday to face Grand View in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.

Posted by on Nov 15 2020. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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