Statesmen Fall to St. Ambrose in Final Non-Conference Game

Oskaloosa--The William Penn women's basketball team wrapped up its non-conference slate Wednesday, coming up on the losing end of a 60-52 decision to St. Ambrose.

WPU (1-8) was outshot 34.4%-32.1%, but posted a slight 41-40 edge in rebounding.  Unfortunately, the hosts' 20 turnovers (12 for SAU) were too much to overcome as the squad was outscored 16-10 in points off mistakes.  Despite being superior on the glass, the navy and gold lost the second-chance points battle 9-7.

The Statesmen were more successful early on with a 6-1 edge through the first two minutes of action.  They extended the margin to 11-5 and eventually were up 21-14 after the opening stanza.

William Penn also knocked down the initial bucket of the second quarter for a 23-14 advantage, its largest of the bout.  Unfortunately, the Queen Bees (2-5) rallied and took their first lead of the night at 26-25.

WPU weathered the storm and grabbed the edge right back at 31-30 on a pair of free throws by Azori Edwards (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., Sociology).  She was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe, while the home squad shot 65.0% overall.

St. Ambrose had the final say in the opening half, however, and entered intermission ahead 32-31.  The Queen Bees would never trail again.

Although they were in the rearview the rest of the evening, the Statesmen remained within striking distance, including Alyssa Hames (Grad., Ackley, Iowa, Master's of Sport Management) pulling the navy and gold within four at 43-39 on a buzzer-beating layup to conclude the third period.

Aiesha Feagins (Sr., Grand Prairie, Texas, Applied Mathematics) was the lone WPU player with multiple three-pointers, connecting on her second trifecta with 3:02 to go in regulation to level the score one final time at 52-52.

Unfortunately, William Penn went cold down the stretch as SAU closed with an 8-0 run to take the victory.

Edwards guided the hosts with 14 points in a non-starting role, while Hames was next with 13 points.  The graduate student nearly recorded a double-double as she corralled nine rebounds in addition to two blocked shots.

Feagins accounted for eight points, Aysia Arrowood (Sr., Wichita, Kan., Sports Management) ended up with five.

Kayla Peoples (Jr., Waco, Texas, Nursing) tallied four assists in a mostly distributor role.

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday to host Graceland in Heart of America Athletic Conference action at 12 p.m.