Coyotes stumble late, drop game to Texas Wesleyan
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Kayli Kauzlarich (with ball) dives for a loose ball during the second half of the Coyotes' 49-51 loss to Texas Wesleyan on Friday night. Purchase this picture and many others at Yote Photo

Kansas Wesleyan jumped out to a 9-1 lead over Texas Wesleyan, but was unable to hold on at the end, falling to the Lady Rams 51-49 in the second game of the 2006 Coyote Thanksgiving Classic at Muir Gym.

The Coyotes jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 17:06 left in the first half, holding Texas Wesleyan scoreless until the 16:20 mark on a Kim Gatlin free throw to make it 7-1.  Ascendra Peters put the Coyotes up 9-1, converting a pass from Kaylaen Dittmer with 16:13 left.

The Lady Rams responded, outscoring the Coyotes 10-2 over the next seven-plus minutes, tying things up at 11-all with 8:59 left in the first half. Kansas Wesleyan responded with its own 12-0 run to take a 23-11 lead with 4:34 left in the half on a three by Jentri Dixon.

“We would play great for a stretch, the break down mentally for a stretch and let them get back in the game,” KWU coach Gordon Reimer said.

The Coyotes would carry a 25-18 lead into the halftime break.

Texas Wesleyan opened the second half with full-court pressure, as the Lady Rams were able to outscore the Coyotes 12-2 to open the half, and take a brief 30-27 lead with 14:18 left.

KWU grabbed the lead back on a putback by Peters with 12:02 left, before Pilar Pinkus would hit a bucket to give TXWU its last lead until the 1:01 mark. Charressa Gray gave KWU the lead back, and the Coyotes would pull away from the Lady Rams, grabbing a 10-point lead at 47-37 with 5:24 left.

“We had some mental breakdowns at the end of the game in our zone defense that left (Gatlin) open for those threes.”

KWU was only able to score two points the remainder of the game, a bucket by Peters with 3:31 left to give the Coyotes a 49-40 lead. After a KWU turnover with 2:49 left, Gatlin would hit the first of three huge three-pointers that would quickly erase the KWU lead, giving TXWU a 51-49 lead with 1:01 left. Nastassia Brown would hit a bucket to get the Lady Rams within four at 49-45, before Gatlin would hit back-to-back triples to give them the final 51-49 advantage.

“We are struggling as a team right now,” Reimer said. “We don’t have a leader out there right now. Until someone steps up and wants to be a leader and wants to win games, we aren’t going to be very good.”

Peters led the Coyotes (2-6) with 16 points, while Dixon added 12 as the Coyotes shot 21-of-61 from the field for 34.4 percent. Kayli Kauzlarich led the Coyotes with eight rebounds, while Dixon added six helping the Coyotes win the rebounding battle 46-38. The Coyotes were also hampered by 23 turnovers that turned into 24 Texas Wesleyan points.

Texas Wesleyan (2-4) was led by Gatlin’s 16 points, as she was the only Lady Ram to hit double figure scoring on the night. TXWU shot 18-of-55 for 32.7 percent for the game, but improved to 46.2 percent in the second half after going 6-for-29 in the first half for 20.7 percent. Pinkus and Brown shared top rebounding honors with five each.

Texas Wesleyan faces Tabor in tomorrow’s 2:00 game, while the host Coyotes face Missouri Baptist tomorrow at 4:00 inside Muir Gym.

-- KWU SI --