Lady Coyotes rally falls short against Rogers State
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

LINDSBORG – Kansas Wesleyan opened its own weekend classic facing Rogers State (Okla.), and nearly rallied for a win, but dropped a 67-64 decision to the Hillcats on Friday night at Hahn Gym.

The KWU Classic was moved to Lindsborg due to construction at the new Student Activities Center adjacent to Muir Gym.

The Coyotes trailed early 4-0, but would get within one on a bucket from Jennie Vopat. Rogers State would again build a four-point cushion at 11-7 in a lay up from Katie Rice, but the Coyotes would fight back, when Emily Luckeroth would hit back to back three’s to tie things up at 13-all with 13:53 to go in the first half.

Freshman LaCole Wilkinson would hit a three two minutes later to give Wesleyan its first lead of the night, but the Hillcats would answer and take the lead back on a bucket by Hayley KnifeChief. Tasha Parker would extend the lead to three at the 11:14 mark, when both teams would hit a three and a half minute scoring drought until Hannah Owen would hit a pair of free throws for Rogers State.

The Hillcats would lead by as many as eight at 29-21 on a Rice bucket with 2:41 left, but Wesleyan would score the last five points of the half, capped by a Jenn Lee three just before the buzzer to cut the Rogers lead to 29-26 at the break.

Wesleyan (1-2) would tie things up at 32-all with 16:51 left on a bucket from Lee, and would take a brief 34-32 lead a minute later on a Charressa Gray score, but the Hillcats would go on a 9-2 run to take a 41-35 lead with 11:42 left on a Brianna Woods bucket.

The Coyotes would chip away at the RSU lead, finally taking the lead with 3:33 left on a three from Lee, but could not hold on as Yoda Woods would give Rogers State a 66-61 lead with 11 seconds left.

Luckeroth would be fouled with five second left on a three, and would hit all three foul shots to make it 66-64, but forced to foul, Andrea Robinson hit one of two free throws for Rogers to make it 67-64 with three seconds left.

Wilkinson’s half court desperation heave from half court hit the front of the rim as Rogers State escaped with the win.

Luckeroth led the way with 21 points off the bench for Wesleyan, and Lee added 13 as the Coyotes were 20-of-48 from the field for 40.8 percent. Kaylaen Dittmer and Jennie Vopat led the Coyotes with seven rebounds each.

Yoda Woods and KnifeChief led Rogers State with 15 points each while the Hillcats were 24-of-49 from the floor for 49 percent. Yoda Woods led Rogers State with 13 rebounds.

The Coyotes will play Baker (Kan.) at 6:00 p.m. today in the third game of the KWU Women’s Classic, while Rogers State faces Bethany at 2:00.

-- KWU SI --