Statesmen Hold Off Pirates for First League Victory

Parkville, Mo.--The William Penn women's basketball team owned a double-digit halftime lead for the second time this week, but this time it was able to maintain it by defeating Park 68-64 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.

WPU (2-5, 1-2 Heart), which outshot PU 43.9%-37.3%, was on top for much of the afternoon, but had to hold off the Pirates (2-3, 0-2 Heart) in the waning seconds to claim its first league win of the campaign.

Down 5-0 right away and eventually trailing by six at 11-5, the visiting crew used a 9-0 run to take the lead for good.

After being on top 22-18 following 10 minutes of play, the navy and gold poured it on with an excellent defensive effort, outscoring the home team 14-4 in the second stanza to pull out to a 36-22 halftime advantage.  Park made just two field goals in the quarter and committed five turnovers.

Unfortunately, the Pirates chipped away at the margin in the third, but WPU maintained a sizeable edge, entering the final period up 10 at 53-43.

Still up nine at 65-56 with under two minutes remaining in regulation, the Statesmen looked like they would cruise to victory.  Park did not make it easy, however, going on an 8-1 run to get within a single basket with just a few ticks left.  Fortunately, Alyssa Hames (Jr., Ackley, Iowa, Psychology) knocked down a pair of free throws with six seconds on the clock as the visitors escaped with the road win, their first of the year.  The junior was 4-for-7 at the free-throw line, but as a team, the Statesmen overcame a mighty struggle at 9-for-23 (39.1%).

Mercer Roberts (Sr., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Wellness and Recreation) was 6-for-11 from the field for a team-high 14 points, while Hames was right behind her with 13 points and a squad-best eight rebounds.  Overall, both sides notched 40 rebounds.

Aliyah Myers (Sr., Wichita, Kan., Business Management) also hit the double-figure plateau with 11 points in addition to tallying 10 assists for a double-double (two steals as well).  Led by Myers, William Penn shared the ball extremely well with assists on 20 of its 25 made shots.

Aiesha Feagins (Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) paced the bench with nine points and Faith Putz (Jr., Urbandale, Iowa, Business Management) contributed eight.  The duo of Ally Stewart (Sr., Victoria, Australia, Sports Management) and Erica Martin (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Sports Management) each finished with five points.

Despite committing three more turnovers than PU (17-14), the Statesmen actually held a 21-12 advantage in points off errors.  On the flip side, William Penn lost the second-chance points battle 17-8.

"I am very proud of this group for securing their first road and league win," Head Coach Joe McKinstry said.  "We are still learning a lot, but you can see the steps we are taking are in the right direction.  Aiesha gave us some really big baskets off the bench, while I am also very happy with Mercer, Alyssa, and Aliyah's performances.  When we finally start to reach our potential, we could get a statistical boost from a lot of different girls and that has to be a part of our identity that we embrace."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Tuesday to face Mount Mercy in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.