Scoring drought to end first half sends Ottawa past Lady Coyotes
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

OTTAWA – A seven minute, 28 second scoring drought to end the first half was key as the Kansas Wesleyan Lady Coyotes snapped a four game winning streak, falling to the no.17 ranked Ottawa Lady Braves on Thursday night at Wilson Fieldhouse in the KCAC Post-Season Tournament Quarterfinals.

Ottawa will host Tabor on Saturday night in the Tournament semifinals.

Ottawa jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on a three by Brittany Broyles, and a bucket by Amanda Stichler, and the Lady Coyotes were never able to recover in the first half. It took nearly two and a half minutes for Wesleyan to find its first points, a 14-foot jumper on the left side with 17:34 left in the half.

Kaylaen Dittmer would get the Lady Coyotes back within three at the 15:34 mark, but an 8-0 Ottawa run put the Lady Braves up 11, 15-4, with 13:06 left in the first half.

Seven straight Wesleyan points would see the Lady Coyotes get back within four at 15-11 with 10:54 left on a pair of Jentri Dixon free throws. Wesleyan would get within four twice more, the last time at the 7:28 mark on free throws by Dittmer.

Then Ottawa’s offense exploded while Wesleyan’s faded. Hallie Boyce hit a pair of free throws sparking a 12-0 run to end the half that gave the Lady Braves a 34-18 advantage at the break.

Hallie Boyce gave Ottawa its first 20-point lead of the night with a three with 17:41 to go in the game, but Ascendra Peters scored the first two of four straight Lady Coyote points to get Wesleyan within 16 at the 15:36 mark. It was as close as Wesleyan would come the rest of the night.

Tina Wilson scored with 6:39 left to give Ottawa its biggest lead of the night at 58-33, before Peters answered with a three. The Lady Coyotes would get as close as 20 with 1:33 left on a Dittmer basket.

Wesleyan (11-19) was led by Dixon with 11, while Peters added nine and Sarah Montoya had eight. The Lady Coyotes struggled to find the basket, shooting a paltry 4-of-20 in the first half, but going 10-of-25 in the second half to finish 14-of-45 from the floor for 31.1 percent. Peters led the Lady Coyotes with seven rebounds, while Dittmer and Dixon had six each.

Ottawa (21-8) was led by Krystal White’s 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Tina Wilson added 12 and Stichler had 10. Ottawa was 21-of-54 from the floor for 38.9 percent. Wilson and Boyce added four rebounds each as Ottawa outrebounded the Lady Coyotes 40-27.

Both teams combined for 50 turnovers, 25 each. Ottawa was able to turn Wesleyan’s miscues into 25 points, while KWU only turned OU’s turnovers into 16 points.

Peters finishes her KWU career as one of the most decorated Lady Coyotes in Wesleyan history. She set four new career records for the Lady Coyotes, including rebounds (748), field goal percentage (42.1), free throws (333) and free throw percentage (78.7). Peters also set two other records last season.

-- KWU SI --