WPU Wins Final Non-League Contest
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Clinton–The Statesmen women’s basketball team claimed victory in its final non-conference matchup of the year, defeating Ashford 61-58 Wednesday.
Besides three ties in the beginning minutes, William Penn (10-13) led the entire evening, including posting a 26-16 halftime edge.
The advantage grew to as much as 17 points at 38-21 with 14:23 left in regulation. The visitors continued to lead by double figures for much of the next 13 minutes, still ahead 52-42 with 57 ticks on the clock.
Things got interesting in a hurry, though, as three offensive rebounds by the Saints (8-18) assisted the home team in narrowing the margin to just three in the last ten seconds. Though it struggled to pull down defensive boards, William Penn was tremendous at the charity stripe (9-for-10) in the final minute to hold on.
The low score would normally indicate a poor shooting performance by the navy and gold, but that was not the case as it outshot Ashford 45.5%-38.8%. The Statesmen did have issues on the glass, however, having to overcome a 36-27 deficit (11-4 offensive), which led to an 11-5 AU edge in second-chance points. WPU countered that with five fewer turnovers (13-18), helping it to a 14-10 advantage in points off mistakes.
Dani Stahle (Sr., South Weber, Utah, History/Government & Psychology) and Janay Pritchett (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology & Sociology) paced William Penn with 14 points each. Stahle, who scored 12 points in the second half, also stole three passes, while Pritchett assisted five times.
Vanessa Kieres (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) led the bench with seven points, while Rachael Tozier (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Business Management) and Katie Golomski (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Psychology & Sociology) each added six points.
Jessie Kreuser (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Undecided) topped her squad in rebounds (6) and blocks (2).
“It always feels great to get a win on the road,” Head Coach Mike Brown said. “We sure did not finish pretty, but we made plays when we had to. Rachael was really good tonight off the bench and Dani was awesome in the second half.”
“It is always tough to play a non-conference game this late in the year, but hopefully this win will get us going down the back stretch,” Brown added.
Next: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Saturday to host Clarke in Midwest Collegiate Conference action at 1 p.m.
