Navy and Gold Battle Well Against Ranked Vikings

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's basketball team never backed down to its rival, falling 89-63 to #17 Grand View in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Wednesday.

The Statesmen (3-19, 2-16 Heart) lost the shooting battle 52.2%-36.8% and were outrebounded 44-31, but knocked down 11 three-pointers and shot 83.3% from the free-throw line.

WPU gave the Vikings (20-2, 16-2 Heart) all they could handle for much of the first quarter, leading 11-10 with 2:39 remaining.  Unfortunately, GVU finally got the motor to turn over and sprinted out of the period with an 11-3 run and never trailed again.

Although they failed to threaten their visitors from that point, the Statesmen continued to scrap and never truly let the game get out of hand.  Turnovers, despite only committing 14 (11 for GVU), were just too much to overcome as the Vikings made WPU pay with a 26-3 edge in points off errors.

The squad's rebounding troubles were also highlighted as the navy and gold were outscored 19-2 in second-chance points.

Mercer Roberts (Sr., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Wellness and Recreation) produced a squad-high 13 points, while Aysia Arrowood (Jr., Wichita, Kan., Sports Management), with 12, and Aiesha Feagins (Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics), with 11, also hit double figures.  Arrowood guided her team in rebounds (7) and steals (3) as well, while Feagins dished out four assists Wednesday.

The trio of Alyssa Hames (Jr., Ackley, Iowa, Psychology), Jaida Smith (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Business Management), and Kayla Carman (Jr., Gallitin, Tenn., Nursing) all contributed eight points as well.

"I thought we made strides tonight and forced Grand View to make plays to beat us," Head Coach Joe McKinstry said.  "We focused a lot the last two days of practice on competing and I felt like we were pretty locked in on that.  We need to take that away from tonight and do what we can to make that happen more consistently over the span of a 40-minute game."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host Missouri Valley in Heart play at 2 p.m.