Turnovers, Hot Opposing Shooting Sinks WPU Versus Culver-Stockton

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen women's basketball team struggled to hold on to the ball and could not cool off its foe in an 81-66 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Culver-Stockton Wednesday.

William Penn (8-13, 5-10 Heart) committed 19 turnovers (13 for C-SC) which led to 24 points for Culver-Stockton (15-6, 10-5 Heart).  The hosts were also outshot 60.0%-44.4% by the Wildcats.

C-SC opened the scoring, but Ally Stewart (Sr., Victoria, Australia, Sports Management) answered with a three-pointer.  Both teams seemed to not have an answer for one another as they went back and forth over the first 10 minutes.  Finally, with five seconds left in the first quarter, Aiesha Feagins (Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) drilled a trifecta to tie the game at 19-19.

The hot scoring would not be continued for the Statesmen in the second quarter with the visiting team outscoring the hosts 27-10 and William Penn entered the locker room down 46-29.

The navy and gold preferred the odd-numbered quarters Wednesday as they once again matched C-SC 19-19 in the third period.  Back-to-back baskets from Emma Morts (Sr., Milford, Ill., Business Management) and Stewart were followed by a three-pointer from Eleni Stefanaki (Fr., Thessaloniki, Greece, Undecided).  Unfortunately, the Statesmen could not make up any ground.

Still down double digits heading to the final 10 minutes of play, William Penn kept fighting and cut the deficit down to 12 at one point, but Culver-Stockton turned the momentum back in its favor to wrap up the contest.

William Penn outrebounded the visiting team 30-21 with a 14-4 margin in offensive boards resulting in the navy and gold holding a 15-7 mark in second-chance points.  It would be much too little in the end however.

Both crews managed their free-throw attempts well; WPU was 12-for-15, while the Wildcats were 8-for-10.

Stewart topped WPU with 17 points and five rebounds, while Morgan Terry (Sr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) was next with 12 points and four assists.

Morts and Journie Augmon (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Human Services) also reached double digits with 10 points each.  Morts collected a team-high six rebounds as well, while Augmon matched Terry with four helpers.   Feagins contributed eight points on the night.

Next Up: William Penn will travel to Cedar Rapids Saturday to take on Mount Mercy in a Heart contest at 2 p.m.