Fouls Doom Statesmen in Loss to #8 Clarke

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's basketball team was formidable Wednesday night, but fell short of the performance it needed to post to claim a huge upset as it fell to Clarke 74-57 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action.

William Penn (9-16, 6-13 Heart) was outshot by Clarke (21-3, 15-3 Heart) 51.1%-38.7%, but was able to win the three-point battle 26.3%-20.0%.

The Statesmen started the game off slow, going down 8-2, but Journie Augmon (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Human Services) connected on back-to-back baskets to cut the lead down to two points. Unfortunately, the visitors went on a run to end the quarter ahead 17-10.

The second stanza saw Clarke jump out to a 28-12 lead before two consecutive scores, followed by a three-pointer from Elle Turner (Fr., Camdenton, Mo., Business Management), closed the gap to single digits. The Pride quickly responded, though, taking a 34-21 advantage into intermission.

WPU found some scoring success early in the third period, but it was not enough as the visitors went basket-for-basket with the Statesmen before going on a 12-2 run to take a 62-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

Aiesha Feagins (Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) scored and Emma Morts (Sr., Milford, Ill., Business Management) followed for the Statesmen to open the fourth, but it was all a foregone conclusion as CU would keep the home team at a safe distance the rest of the way.

The Statemen were outrebounded by the visitors 36-24, but committed just eight turnovers, while taking the ball from the visitors on 11 occasions.

All of that paled in comparison to the game's free-throw discrepancy.  WPU was whistled for 19 more fouls (28-9) than Clarke, which led to the Pride getting to the charity stripe a whopping 36 times (26 makes).  It was unfortunately a much different state of affairs for the Statesmen as they had just four attempts; they made them all.

Morts topped WPU with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Morgan Terry (Sr., Cornersville, Tenn., Biology) was next with 10 points and three assists.  Augmon added eight points as well Wednesday.

Ally Stewart (Sr., Victoria, Australia, Physical Education) was next with seven points and four assists, while Turner finished with six points on a pair of trifectas.

Next Up: William Penn will travel to Atchison, Kan. Saturday to take on Benedictine in Heart action at 2 p.m.