Lady Coyotes drop game to Friends
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

It appeared that Kansas Wesleyan was obviously feeling the effects of its third game in six days, as the Lady Coyotes fell to Friends 67-60 on Saturday night at the Garvey Center in Wichita.

Breann Gross was a force for the Lady Falcons, scoring a game high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Friends was on fire in the second half, shooting 57.9 percent from the field in the second 20 minutes, but only outscored the Coyotes by five.

Wesleyan (4-9, 1-3) opened the game with a 4-0 lead on a pair of free throws by Jentri Dixon with 17:54 left in the half. Friends would rally, tying the score at 6-all with 14:19 left on a bucket by Kristina Jones, sparking an 11-4 run giving Friends a 17-10 lead with 8:37 left in the half.

The Coyotes would get back within three with 4:27 left on a pair of Dixon free throws, but Friends would pull back out to a seven point advantage with 2:23 left in the half on a pair of Megan VinZant free throws.

 The Coyotes would get back within two on a 5-0 run with 1:07 left, and would trail by a pair at the half on a steal and layup by Charressa Gray just before the half.

Wesleyan’s offense came alive to start the second half. After Friends built a five-point advantage with 19:09 left, Kaylaen Dittmer would spark an 8-0 Coyote run to give Wesleyan a 36-33 lead with 16:06 left on a free throw by Charressa Gray.

VinZant would tie things up at 36 with a three, as Friends answered Wesleyan’s run with a 9-2 run of its own to take a four-point lead with 12:51 left. Four straight points by Peters would tie things up again at 42 with 11:53 left.

Friends would then pull away, building as much as a nine-point lead with 2:31 left, as the Falcons outscored Wesleyan 25-18 over the final 11-plus minutes of the game to come away with the 67-60 win.

Peters led the Coyotes with 22 points, while Gray added 13 and Dittmer had 11. Dittmer and Dixon led the Coyotes on the boards with six each, while Gray and Peters chipped in five each as Wesleyan won the rebounding battle 32-28. Wesleyan was 21-of-54 from the field for 38.9 percent.

Gross’ 26 led the Falcons while VinZant scored 16 as the only two Friends (4-8, 1-2) players in double figures. Gross and Michelle Price led the Falcons with five rebounds each.

The Coyotes are off until December 29, when they head to Golden, Colo., to play in the Colorado Mines Classic.

-- KWU SI --