Coyotes fall just short of Friends
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

WICHITA – Kansas Wesleyan got another stellar performance from Tierra Baldwin, but it was not enough as the Friends Falcons knocked off the Coyotes 58-53 on Thursday night at Garvey Gym.

Baldwin scored another double double with 16 points and 14 rebounds, her seventh in the last eight games, and 11th overall. Fellow senior Charressa Gray almost marked a double as well, scoring 15 and pulling down nine boards.

The Coyotes dominated nearly every statistical category, except turnovers. There were a combined 43 miscues between the teams, 24 by the Coyotes and 19 from Friends.

Wesleyan jumped out to a 10-4 lead with 14:34 left on a bucket from Baldwin, but Friends worked its way back into it, using a three from Megan VinZant to get within one at 10-9 with 13:46 to go.

The Coyotes would answer back, scoring eight unanswered to take their biggest lead of the night at nine, 18-9, with 10:01 left.

Liz Barton later hit a three with 4:54 to go in the half to get the Falcons back within one at 23-22. Wesleyan could not build its lead bigger than four the rest of the half, using Baldwin free throws with 3:13 left to take the 28-24 lead.

Friends (14-13, 7-10) scored the final four points of the half to send the teams into the break tied at 28.

VinZant’s three with 19:17 to go gave the Falcons their first lead of the second half at 31-30, as Friends went up by as many as three early in the frame on another score from VinZant.

Wesleyan (11-16, 8-9) would not fade off into the night. The Coyotes rallied back from a five point deficit to tie things up at 43-all with 10:13 to go on a triple from Jenn Lee.

Friends pushed its lead to as many as four at 49-45 with 6:25 to go when Wesleyan would make one final charge at the Falcons.

A bucket from Baldwin cut the lead to two, and Emily Luckeroth’s three with 4:19 left would put the Coyotes on top 50-49.

The Falcons quickly answered the Wesleyan run, scoring eight unanswered to take a 57-50 lead with 53 seconds left on a bucket by Barton.

A three from Kaylaen Dittmer got Wesleyan within four with 35.1 seconds left, but Tavi Polley-Davis would hit one of two free throws with 24.7 seconds left to seal the win for Friends.

Baldwin’s 16 led all scorers in the game as the Coyotes shot 41.8 percent from the field for the game, after hitting 54.5 percent in the first half.  Baldwin’s 14 boards helped Wesleyan win the rebounding battle 38-30.

Kristina Jones led Friends with 15, while VinZant and Barton had 13 each as the Falcons were 22-of-56 from the field for 39.3 percent. Three Friends players each had four rebounds to lead the way.

Wesleyan nearly assures itself the No.5 seed in next week’s KCAC Post-Season Tournament. The Coyotes are two games back of McPherson and Tabor who are tied for third, and just one game ahead of Friends. The Falcons host Ottawa Saturday while Wesleyan wraps up the regular season at home against Tabor.

-- KWU SI --