A late-season surge

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Mustangs are jelling at the right time.

Sophomore Alisa Weiland scored 20 points and soph Abby Herb added 16 to lead the Mount Mercy women past William Penn, 76-58, on Saturday in a Midwest Collegiate Conference basketball game at Hennessey Recreation Center.

The win was the fifth in six games for Mount Mercy (14-12, 5-3) and its second against William Penn (10-15, 3-6).

'We're really meshing,” said Mount Mercy Coach Aaron Jennings. 'It's fun to play this way, it's fun to coach. I can see on their faces that it's fun to play when we're sharing the basketball and we're attacking. We're becoming the aggressor.”

The Mustangs went on the attack with a little over six minutes left in the first half, cutting hard to the basket and drawing fouls.

Mount Mercy closed the first half with a 17-4 run, during which it made 13 of 16 free throws.

'We have different keys we talk about in the pregame and one of them for almost every game is fouls versus free throws,” Jennings said. 'We want to get to the free throw line because we have pretty good free throw shooters - knock on wood.”

The Mustangs were shooting 72.5 percent from the stripe entering the game.

They made 80 percent (20 of 25) against Penn.

Mount Mercy had a 46-37 advantage in rebounding. Junior Makenzie Zeitler grabbed 15 caroms and scored 14 points for the Mustangs. Christa Oldham had 10 points and six assists.

William Penn never got closer than nine points in the second half.

Former Cedar Rapids Washington prep Janay Pritchett had eight points for Penn.

Her 3-pointer with 6:49 left in the first half gave Penn its second and final lead of the game at 21-20.

Dezarea Duckworth led William Penn with 18 points.