Khristy Santee goes up for a shot during the second half of KWU's 88-73 win over Oklahoma Wesleyan

KWU was also aided by some outstanding shooting, as the Lady Coyotes shot exactly 50 percent for the game on 33-of-66 shooting, including a 54.3 percent effort in the second half.

KWU struck first on a bucket by Kaylaen Dittmer, but Samantha Brant evened things up and gave Oklahoma Wesleyan the 3-2 lead on a three point play with 19:29 left. Charressa Gray gave KWU the lead back with a pair of free throws, but a bucket by Joni Schellenberger gave Oklahoma Wesleyan a 5-4 lead with 18:44 left in the first, and sparked a 10-2 OWU run that gave them a 13-6 lead with 15:49 left. A bucket by Jentri Dixon and four straight points by Ascendra Peters got the Coyotes within one at 13-12 forcing an OWU timeout.

Schellenberger gave the Lady Eagles a six-point lead with 7:17 left in the half, when he Coyote offense began clicking. The Lady Coyotes used a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to pull out to a 37-30 lead with 2:02 left on a bucket by Dittmer. Dittmer was a force for the Coyotes during the run, scoring 10 of her game high 24 points in that stretch.

Kansas Wesleyan took a 43-37 lead into the halftime break.

Davia Seay hit a pair of free throws to open scoring in the second half, but the Lady Coyotes pulled away, with the lead hitting double digits on a steal and layup by Gray with 17:13 left in the second half, giving KWU a 52-41 lead. Seay was able to get the lead back to seven at 54-47 with 16:13 left, but OWU could get no closer the rest of the way as KWU pulled away with a 20-8 run over the next six-plus minutes to take a 74-55 lead with 10:01 left.

KWU lead 78-57 with 7:49 left when OWU put together a string of three straight three-pointers as part of a 9-3 run to get back within 15 at 81-66 with 6:37 to go. Shauntel Cobin then sparked the Wesleyan offense with a layup, and then made a steal and another layup to push the lead back to 19 with 5:58 to go.

Neither team could find the basket over the next three and a half minutes, as OWU scored the only two points of the stretch on a pair of Seay free throws with 3:38 left. Brant scored with 2:20 left, and Danielle Jackson-Sokolosky hit a three to get OWU within 14 at 87-73 with 1:34 left. Sarah Montoya capped the scoring for KWU with 53 seconds left hitting one of two free throws.

Dittmer led all scorers in the game with 24 points, while Peters added 20 and Gray had 12 to lead the Coyotes. KWU (2-4) was led in rebounding by Dittmer with seven, while Khristy Santee and Peters each had six. KWU had 18 steals off of the 3 OWU turnovers, led by Cobin with six, and Dittmer led with five assists.

OWU (3-5) was led by Seay with 22 points, and a game high 12 rebounds, while Schellenberger added 16 and Brant had 10. OWU shot 40.4 percent from the field on 23-of-57 shooting. Brant pitched in six boards as OWU won the rebounding battle 39-36. OWU was hampered by 30 turnovers, including seven by Rashona Bledsoe and six by Schellenberger.

KWU is back in action on Tuesday as they travel to Kansas City to take on Avila University at 5:30 PM.

-- KWU SI --