Statesmen Unable to Overcome Shooting Woes in Loss to Eagles

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's basketball team battled for 40 minutes Saturday, but came up short in a 63-58 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Central Methodist.

WPU (1-4, 0-2 Heart) was outshot 49.0%-31.6% and outrebounded 38-28, but was in the game until the final seconds.  That was largely due to a 13-for-17 showing at the free-throw line and the fact that the navy and gold caused CMU (4-2, 1-1 Heart) to commit 23 turnovers (just 13 for William Penn).

Although it had fewer overall rebounds, William Penn was better on the offensive glass at 10-8 which resulted in a 13-3 advantage in second-chance points.

The home squad tallied the first four points of the afternoon, but the visitors answered with a 16-2 run and eventually led 18-13 after 10 minutes of action.

William Penn played its best ball in the second quarter, outscoring Central Methodist 24-13 in the period, including hitting 50.0% of its attempts to lead 37-31 at intermission.

Unfortunately, the Statesmen went cold in the third, scoring just seven points on 10.0% from the field, but were locked at 44-44 with one quarter left to go.

The sides exchanged blows over the next several minutes with Carley West (Jr., Saint Paul, Minn., Human Services) recording a layup that gave the navy and gold a 58-55 edge with 3:14 left in regulation.

The Eagles owned the remaining minutes, though, with eight unanswered down the stretch.  The final points came with 1:49 still on the clock as WPU was unable to get anything to go in its final possessions and fell to CMU.

West guided the Statesmen with 13 points, while Aiesha Feagins (Sr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) knocked down four three-pointers en route to a 12-point performance.

The duo of Azori Edwards (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., Sociology) and Lacy Whitcomb (Sr., Overland Park, Kan., Psychology) both managed seven points, while Alyssa Hames (Grad., Ackley, Iowa, Master's of Sports Management) ended up with six in addition to a team-high seven rebounds and five assists.

Shelby Clark (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Wellness and Recreation) headlined the defense with three steals along with distributing four assists.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Marshall, Mo. next Saturday to face Missouri Valley in Heart play at 5:30 p.m.