The Park University women's basketball program played lights out on the road against William Penn University on Saturday, defeating the Statesmen 73-49.
Park still holds the No. 7 spot in the Heart of America Athletic Conference standings at 7-7 and improve to 10-8 on the season, while William Penn is only 1-11 in conference play and 2-14 on the regular season.
The Pirates opened up with a pair of three pointers by
Paige Scott and
Emma Perry for a 6-0 lead.
Makayla Artis,
Nadiyah Cooper, and Perry added two-point buckets to fuel the fire of a 12-0 scoring run to begin the game. It would be 5:35 before William Penn scored its first bucket. Four made free-throws and another two scores salvaged some of the first quarter for the Statesmen at 15-10 with two minutes to go. Perry and
Alexus Woodard closed out the quarter with baskets to end the quarter with a seven-point lead, 19-12.
The Statesmen and Pirates exchanged some opening points to begin the second quarter, but Perry made a big three-pointer to help Park to a nine-point lead. That was not just a big shot for the game, but with the trey, Perry also went over 1,000 points in her collegiate career, which started at Southwest Baptist University and has continued to blossom the last two seasons at Park.
A 6-2 run for William Penn triggered a Park timeout at 7:10 and then a defensive battle would result in a scoring lull. After a
Destiny Hines steal though, she set up Cooper with a layup to get back to a seven-point advantage. Park added another four points by Cooper and Perry to extend the lead to 11, meanwhile the Statesmen were having their own offensive woes and would not score again until 1:40. Cooper would drive in for another layup to end the half, 35-24.
A 10-0 run over the first six games of the third quarter would prove to be the last straw for the Statesmen, trailing 45-24. There were seven third quarter turnovers by William Penn compared to only two for Park, and Cooper and Scott were major culprits with three and two steals apiece. Scott would nail a three-pointer with 3:25 to go and
Marina Perdiguero tacked on three points to close out the third quarter 51-30.
It would continue to go over well for Park in the fourth quarter, their largest scoring quarter of the game, and led by as much as 31 points in the last couple minutes of the game. Park led the entire way and the 24-point win is the largest of the season for the Pirates, 73-49.
For the game, Park shot 41.3-percent from the field, while William Penn was at 32.1-percent. Park also shot it better from three at six-of-21, while William Penn was at four-of-28.
Both sides made the most of free-throws with only three misses for each side, 15-of-18 for Park and 11-of-14 for the Statesmen. The Pirates had 21 points off of turnovers, 10 more points than William Penn.
Park had five more second chance points and eight more points on fastbreak opportunities.
William Penn had five more turnovers in the third quarter than Park, otherwise, each team had an even number of turnovers.
It's not everyday that three players score 17 points, but Saturday was that day, as Cooper, Perry, and Scott reach the 17-point mark. Scott made her living from behind the arc with four made three-pointers. Cooper was the defensive tactician with five steals, while Perry got the ball moving with five assists.
Nevaeh Spillman nearly reached a double-double on 10 rebounds and nine points, and she was seven-of-eight from the stripe. Impressively, five of her rebounds were on the offensive glass.
Park will matchup with Baker University on Wednesday evening in Breckon Sports Center at 5:30pm. Expect a fun night in Breckon Sports Center with halftime trivia, a t-shirt toss, and other giveaways in celebration of the 150
th year anniversary of Park University.
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