Coyote women knock off Friends 59-53
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Kansas Wesleyan got its second conference win of the season as the Coyotes knocked off Friends University 59-53 in women’s basketball action on Saturday night inside Muir Gym.

The Coyotes overcame 23 turnovers, and dominated the rebounding edge 43-21 en route to the win that improves their record to 5-12 overall and 2-5 in the KCAC.

Charressa Gray got the Coyotes on the board first with a bucket, but it took over a minute for the Falcons to find the hole, to tie things up at 2-all by Mary Onelio with 18:35 to go in the first half.

Friends would extend its run to 7-0, taking a 7-2 advantage on a Liz Kramer bucket with 16:55 to go. The Coyotes would answer back, using an 8-0 run to regain a 10-7 lead on a bucket by Gray with 14:35 left in the half.

Back-to-back threes from Kramer would give Friends a 13-10 lead with 13:28 left in the half, but Wesleyan would answer back, getting four straight points to take back a 14-13 lead with 12:16 left.

The game would remain close for a majority of the half, with Khristy Santee tying things up at 17-all with 9:55 left, when Friends would go on a huge scoring drought.

Tavi Polley-Davis would score with 9:37 to go to put the Falcons up two, when Wesleyan would take advantage. The Falcons would not score again until the 2:04 mark in the half. Meanwhile, the Coyotes would build a four point advantage, 23-19, with 3:51 to go in the half on free throws from Emily Luckeroth.

Jennie Vopat would put Wesleyan back up five on free throws with 1:17 left, but the Falcons would get five straight points to tie things up at 25-all with 13 seconds left in the half. Luckeroth would score at the buzzer to send Wesleyan into the break with a 27-25 advantage.

Wesleyan would open the second half in a big way, pushing its lead to double digits at 38-27 with 13:16 to go, as the result of a 11-2 run capped by a rebound and put back by Gray, who finished the night with a game high 23 points.

Friends (10-8, 3-5) would cut the lead to four with 10:59 to go on a three from Kristina Jones, but Wesleyan would quickly answer back with a 7-0 run to take another 11-point lead on free throws from Dittmer with 7:45 to go.

Dittmer would again give Wesleyan an 11-point advantage at 56-45 with 2:57 on a pair of free throws, but the Falcons would make one final run at the Coyotes. Michelle Price would convert her own miss, sparking an 8-0 Falcon run that got Friends back within three with just under a minute left on a bucket from Kramer.

The Coyotes would hold on, using a pair of foul shots from Gray and one from Jenn Lee with 1.7 seconds left to seal the 59-53 win.

Gray’s 23 led the Coyotes while Tierra Baldwin had her best performance in the second semester with 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Coyotes were 19-of-44 from the field for 43.2 percent. Wesleyan also was strong at the foul line, going 19-of-23 on charity shots, and limited their three point shots, hitting just 2-of-6 from long range. Baldwin’s 14 boards led the way while Gray added eight. Dittmer had six of Wesleyan’s eight assists, while LaCole Wilkinson had five of Wesleyan’s seven steals.

Kramer led Friends with 21 points as the only Falcon in double figures, while three other players scored nine each. Friends was 20-of-55 from the field for 36.4 percent. Price led the Falcons with seven rebounds.

Wesleyan kicks off a busy week next week with three games beginning at McPherson on Monday in a make-up of the December 8 contest. The Coyotes then head to Tabor on Thursday before returning home to begin a four-game home stand a week from tonight against Ottawa.

-- KWU SI --