Statesmen Fall in Season Finale to Missouri Valley

Oskaloosa – The Statesmen women's basketball team wrapped up its campaign Saturday with a 65-42 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Missouri Valley.

William Penn (7-21, 4-16) was outshot 43.4%-21.7% and outrebounded 42-37 but outdid the Vikings with 13 points off of turnovers to MVC's seven. The Statesmen did force the Vikings (16-11, 13-7) to give up 15 turnovers but were only capitalize for three points off of those mistakes.

The Vikings started scoring and got out to a quick 5-0 lead before Reagan Pavesi (Jr., Austin, Texas, Wellness and Recreation) hit a three-pointer to get her squad on the board. Missouri Valley kept control throughout the period to lead 19-9 at the first quarter break.

Dekota Smith (Jr., Toledo, Ohio, Computer Science) made a layup to scoring in the second but the Vikings did well to squash any attempt at run by the Statesmen and went on to lead WPU 33-13 at the halftime break.

The latter half was much of the same as Missouri Valley maintained its strong lead until the final buzzer.

Smith led her squad in scoring with 14 points, Pavesi also hit double digits with 10 points off the bench, while Kayla Jones (Sr., Louisville, Ky., Psychology) had six.

Smith also led WPU in rebounding with eight and Kayla Peoples (Sr., Waco, Texas, Nursing) grabbed six.

Peoples, Pavesi, and Laney Parker (Jr., Springfield, Ill., Business Management) each had an assist in the loss.

"Tough loss to end the season on the road. I thought in the second half we played even with them. Unfortunately, our transition defense, and missed opportunities on offense in the first half hurt us. I'm proud of the growth our program showed this season. I'm excited for the future."