Lady Coyotes blast Bethany 63-42
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

It’s been a long time coming. Finally! About time! Say it anyway you want. Kansas Wesleyan beat Bethany in women’s basketball for the first time since the 1995 season on Thursday night at Hahn Gym in Lindsborg. The Lady Coyotes routed the Lady Swedes 63-42 en route to their first conference win of the season.

It was all Wesleyan from the opening tipoff until the final buzzer. The Coyotes jumped out to an 8-0 lead before the Swedes could get on the board on a pair of Candace Friedrich free throws. The Coyotes expanded the lead to 17 on a steal and layup by Sarah Montoya, making it 19-2 with 15:15 left in the first half.

It wasn’t until the 14:18 mark that Bethany scored a field goal, a layup by Hope Stieben.

Bethany got within 15 with 11:39 left in the first half on a pair of Trisha Dietz free throws, but the Coyotes used another 8-0 run to take a 23-point lead, 29-6, with 9:05 to go in the first half.

Wesleyan took a 15-point advantage into the halftime break.

Stieben got Bethany within 13, scoring the first points of the second half, but a Charressa Gray free throw, and an Ascendra Peters bucket were part of a 6-0 Coyote run that put the Coyotes back up 19 points, at 41-22 with 14:42 to go.

After an Amy Edelman three for the Swedes, Wesleyan (3-8, 1-2) pulled away, leading by as many as 26 points, at 63-37 on a pair of free throws by Kayli Kauzlarich with 2:35 left. Bethany scored the last five points of the game to make the final score 63-42 in favor of the Coyotes.

Ascendra Peters led all scorers with 24 points for the Coyotes, while Kauzlarich had 12 and Kaylaen Dittmer had 10 to go along with her game high 12 rebounds. Dittmer also led the Coyotes with five assists and four steals. Wesleyan shot 25-of-60 from the field for 41.7 percent, but struggled from behind the three point line, only hitting two of 11 shots. The Coyotes outrebounded Bethany 40-30.

Bethany was led by Stieben and Edelman with 12 points each as the Swedes struggled to find the basket, going 13-of-44 for the game for 29.5 percent. Angie Heinen led Bethany on the boards with five, while the other players each had four. Bethany was also struck by the turnover bug as they had 25 miscues.

The Coyotes are back in action on Saturday night as they head to Wichita to take on the Friends Falcons in the final game before Christmas. Wesleyan’s next action after Friends will be in Golden, Colorado, on December 29 and 30 at the Colorado Mines Classic.

-- KWU SI --