WPU Wins 11th Straight, Advances to Heart Semifinals
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–William Penn Women’s Basketball began its run in the Heart of American Athletic Conference tournament on Wednesday night in the Penn Gymnasium with a quarterfinal match up with the Missouri Valley Vikings. The ladies defeated the Vikings in both the team’s previous matchups this season.
The 11th ranked Statesmen grabbed its 28th victory of the season downing MVC 79-67 while shooting a red-hot 63% from three-point territory. Overall WPU was surprisingly outshot from the field 55%-52% in the win.
In the first, the navy and gold jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead after a pair of three’s hit by Jenna Santi (Sr., Oak Creek, Wis., Sports Management) and Kate Ylitalo (Jr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) but failed to stay in rhythm early after that. Missouri Valley gained the lead at the 3:32 mark on a three-point shot of their own and was able to stretch the lead to four heading into the second quarter of action.
The next quarter was much of the same for WPU as they continue to play catch-up for much of the quarter but remained close with MVC’s largest lead only reaching six. Shamiah Oliver (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Education) managed to tie the game on a driving layup with 2:43 remaining in the first half. The visitors scored the next four points but Brenda Pennington (Jr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) was able to give her team a bit of momentum heading into the locker room, scoring with nine seconds left to cut the deficit to 34-32.
William Penn has been a very good second half team all season long and this didn’t change in the Penn on Wednesday night. The ladies gained the lead just a few seconds into the second half when Santi was able to draw some contact, finish, and convert on the free-throw to complete the three-point play. Santi caught fire in the period scoring 14 points to help her team build a nine-point lead approaching the final quarter of play.
Missouri Valley didn’t go quietly, however. The visiting Vikings trimmed the Statesmen lead to as many as two with 3:44 remaining but a field goal from Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) followed by a huge three from Makenzie Pezley (So., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) a couple of possessions later about sealed the deal.
Three players reached the 20 point plateau led by Santi (21 pts, 7-7 FG) and Nwagbaraocha (21 pts, 8-16 FG). Pennington was a playmaker all night long as the Junior poured in 20 points (7-8 FG) and had eight assists.
“We got off to a very slow start but we battled back. Give Missouri Valley credit, they came to play and they played hard. They are a good team and had players step up for them,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said, “Jenna and Brenda really stepped up big tonight! Vashti was Vashti. It wasn’t pretty but this time of year you just need to win.”
