WPU Takes Advantage of Turnovers to Get Another League Win
William Penn hold off Culver-Stockton 71-63 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen women’s basketball team was excellent in the odd-numbered quarters, and did enough down the stretch to hold off Culver-Stockton 71-63 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
William Penn (12-4, 6-1 Heart) outshot the Wildcats (7-9, 2-5 Heart) by a 44.8%-35.3% tally, but really did its damage on defense by forcing C-SC into 26 turnovers. Those mistakes were converted into a dominating 33-9 edge in points off turnovers; WPU had 21 turnovers.
The hosts allowed the first two points of the game, but then responded with 13 straight and were pushing all the right buttons. The visitors calmed down, though, and made it a respectable 16-9 score after 10 minutes of play.
Things evened out even more in the second period as each team poured in 17 points to keep William Penn’s advantage at seven (33-26) midway through the competition.
WPU rarely employs a press defense, but it was executed to near perfection, especially in the third as the Wildcats committed 14 turnovers and the home team extended its lead to 53-36 entering the last quarter. Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) guided the efforts by matching a career high with seven steals; the Statesmen had 12 thefts overall.
The navy and gold continued to play at a high level early in the fourth with a 59-38 advantage, but C-SC refused to go quietly and pulled to within single digits at 62-53 with 2:22 still on the clock. WPU struggled with sub-par free-throw shooting (52.2%), but fortunately connected on four of its last six tries to lock up the victory.
Nwagbaraocha, who was 9-for-13 from the field, was just shy of a triple-double as she also scored 21 points alongside nine rebounds. The junior blocked a pair of shots as well.
The Statesmen nipped the Wildcats by only one on the glass, 38-37.
Highlighted by five three-pointers, including four in the first 13 minutes of play, Sarah Hansen (Sr., Kewanee, Ill., Psychology and Human Services) guided all participants with 23 points.
Sham Troupe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) narrowly missed double digits with nine points, while JeAnn Hiraldo (Sr., Frisco, Texas, Industrial Technology) topped the non-starters with seven points. Kate Ylitalo (So., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) was good for six points as well.
Jenna Santi (Jr., Oak Creek, Wis., Elementary Education) contributed five points and dished out nine assists.
“This was not a great performance by us tonight, but we played well enough in spurts to get the win,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “Hopefully, we can learn from this and understand how we have to prepare for games. We have to come focused and ready to play to become a great team and accomplish our goals.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Dubuque next Wednesday to face Clarke in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
