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Statesmen turn tables on Tigers

By Ross Thede 5 min read

For six glorious minutes, the Marshalltown Community College women's basketball team was in total control.

And although mathematically impossible, MCC's 15-point lead -- and more importantly its confidence -- was decimated by back-to-back three-point plays by the William Penn University junior varsity.

The MCC women sprinted out to a 23-8 lead before the visiting Statesmen scored 20 of the next 22 points to close the opening quarter in the lead, and they never relinquished the advantage in a 109-57 victory on Friday at the Emerson Classic.

William Penn junior center Erica Martin racked up a double-double of 27 points and 17 rebounds to power her team's early comeback and eventual conquest of the host Tigers (0-3). MCC snatched control for the first six minutes, but it took the Statesmen just two trips up the court to knock the Tigers off their stride.

"We came out real hot and they hit a couple of threes and they got hot and then we -- I wouldn't say we gave up, I would never say that -- but we just kinda mentally broke down," said MCC first-year head coach Carey Phariss. "We couldn't get past that point."

Both figuratively and literally.

Three-pointers by MCC sophomore Keelie Eitel and freshman Yanelis Pena-Turbi -- the starting setter on the Tigers' volleyball team -- and a pair of free throws from sophomore point guard Waiaaria Rogers pushed Marshalltown to a 23-8 lead with 4:30 left to play in the opening period.

But three-point plays by Martin and Kiera Sutton, who finished with 25 points, kickstarted William Penn's uprising. Sutton sank a trey, scored a transition layup and made another triple as part of the Statesmen's 20-2 surge over the final 4:16 of the first quarter.

Martin and Sutton scored all but five of William Penn's 28 points in the period, and Jaida Smith got into the mix for the Statesmen to start the second quarter. Sutton sank another trey and Smith hit back-to-back triples before driving for an uncontested layup as WPU posted the first 11 points out of the break.

That sinking feeling the Tigers got when William Penn's comeback had only just begun was finally justified.

"We've just gotta learn to get over that mental breakdown," Phariss said. "It mentally got to us. It wasn't a physical thing."

The shadow of doubt turned into a thunderstorm of turnovers for MCC -- 22 of them in the first half, to be exact. The Tigers finished with 36 turnovers and shot just 30 percent from the field in suffering their third lopsided loss in as many games this season.

Eitel finished with a team-leading 19 points but had to take 27 shots to get there, though Phariss wasn't immediately alarmed with the sophomore's off-night shooting. Eitel finished 7-for-27 from the floor and 4-of-19 from 3-point range.

"We had a couple kids who weren't very hot tonight and they got plenty of shots," Phariss said. "We shoot a lot of shots in practice. We want [Eitel] to shoot the ball. I want to go to her. We have different plays for her. Her and Wai(aaria) together are great players.

"Every shot she shot I thought were really good shots. Every shot she shot I thought was going in."

Rogers scored 13 of her 14 points in the first half but fouled out, and Pena-Turbi tallied a career-high 13 points to go with seven rebounds.

Angeles Betancourt and Olivia Gradwell both pulled down 12 rebounds but combined for just one point.

"What I want to see with every game is just play hard," Phariss said. "I know that's stereotypical coach talk, but play hard and know that you're getting better every day. The game is so mental and getting past that point of knowing that you're good enough to be a player that can do it this level is hard.

"I know the potential that we have, I've seen them play in practice, they have good attitudes, but when they don't live up to that they get frustrated. It's a work in progress."

Martin's 27 and 17 were game-highs for scoring and rebounding, as were her five blocked shots. Smith chipped in 15 points off the bench, South Tama County graduate Carissa Musgrave tallied 11 of her 13 in the second half, and Addison Schilling chipped in 12 points for the Statesmen.

William Penn tips off Saturday's final day of the Emerson Classic with an 11 a.m. contest against Iowa Lakes CC, while the MCC women close the weekend with a 3 p.m. game against Lewis & Clark CC. Iowa Lakes defeated Lewis & Clark 65-52 in Friday's tournament opener.

William Penn JV 109, MCC 57

WILLIAM PENN JV -- Jasmine Davis 2-8 4-4 9, Kiera Sutton 9-16 4-5 25, Addison Schilling 4-6 2-2 12, Carissa Musgrave 4-9 2-2 13, Erica Martin 9-13 9-11 27, Mia Vest 0-1 1-2 1, Becca White 0-2 3-4 3, Jaida Smith 5-13 2-3 15, Hailey Miranda 0-3 0-0 0, Kylie Grace Bell 2-6 0-0 4. TOTALS 35-77 27-33 109.

MCC (0-3) -- Keelie Eitel 7-27 1-3 19, Waiaaria Rogers 4-11 6-8 14, Olivia Gradwell 0-6 0-0 0, Emma Long 2-9 2-6 6, Kaylin Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Angeles Betancourt 0-4 1-1 1, Aryana McQueen 1-3 0-0 2, Isneydy Mercedes 1-2 0-0 2, Yanelis Pena-Turbi 6-9 0-1 13. TOTALS 21-71 10-19 57.

WM. PENN 28 34 21 26 -- 109

MCC 26 10 13 8 -- 57

3-Point Goals--William Penn JV 12-32 (Musgrave 3-7, J. Smith 3-7, Sutton 3-9, Schilling 2-3, Davis 1-4, White 0-2), MCC 5-28 (Eitel 4-19, Pena-Turbi 1-2, Mercedes 0-1, Rogers 0-2, Gradwell 0-2, Long 0-2). Rebounds--William Penn JV 47 (Martin 17), MCC 43 (Gradwell, Betancourt 12). Total Fouls--William Penn JV 22, MCC 27. Fouled Out--Vest, Rogers, K. Smith, Mercedes.

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