Coyote women cruise past Saint Mary 70-50
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

A solid defensive performance from Kansas Wesleyan in the second half allowed the Coyotes to cruise to a 70-50 women’s basketball win over Saint Mary on Thursday night at Muir Gymnasium.

Wesleyan held the Spires scoreless the final 6:23 of the game, closing the contest with a 17-0 run to come away with the 20-point decision.

The Coyotes never trailed in the contest, building their first half lead to as many as 15, 25-10, with 9:02 to go, before suffering a nearly six minute span before they would score again. Thankfully, Saint Mary only score five points during the Wesleyan drought.

Tierra Baldwin’s bucket with 19:03 left in the first half opened the scoring for the Coyotes, and after a Lacy Leonard score with 18:42 left to tie it, Wesleyan would push its lead out to as many as 11, 17-6, on back to back three’s from LaCole Wilkinson and Emily Luckeroth.

A Wilkinson bucket would push Wesleyan’s lead to 15 at 25-10 with 9:02 left, when the Coyote offense went dormant. Liz Gillespie’s bucket with 3:40 left got the Spires within ten at 25-15, but back to back scores from the Coyotes sandwiching a Katie Joens triple gave the Coyotes a 29-18 lead with 2:22 left in the first half.

Saint Mary (10-14, 4-11) would close the half on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 29-23 at the break.

Gillespie’s score to start the second half got the Spires within four, but a Charressa Gray three would quickly put Wesleyan back up seven with 19 minutes left. Rani Jacobs would answer back with a three as the Spires would outscore the Coyotes 8-2 over the next three and a half minutes to get within one at 34-33 with 15:25 left.

Wesleyan (11-14, 8-7) used a 10-2 run to regain control sparked by back to back triples from Gray and Kaylaen Dittmer, pushing its lead back to nine, 44-35 with 12:38 to go.

Saint Mary made one more charge at the Coyotes, cutting the lead to three with 9:11 left on a Gillespie three, and then again on an Allison Berger three with 6:23 left, making it 53-50 with 6:23 to go.

That’s when the Coyote defense would take over. Two missed free throws, two missed jumpers and a turnover by the Spires saw Wesleyan push its lead back out to nine, and Wilkinson’s bucket with 2:34 left would get the lead back into double digits.

The Coyotes scored their last nine points at the foul line as Saint Mary was forced to foul to try to get back into the game.

Baldwin recorded her sixth straight double-double and tenth overall with 18 points and 15 rebounds, both game highs to lead the Coyotes, while Dittmer broke out of a slumpo with 15 and Wilkinson had 12 as did Gray to go along with ten rebounds. Wesleyan was 25-of-68 from the field for 36.8 percent, including a 7-for-20 performance from three, after going 0-for-14 Saturday night at Bethel. Wilkinson added five assists and Gray had four blocks to lead the Coyotes.

Joens had ten points off the bench for Saint Mary as the only Spire in double figures, while Gillespie and Leonard each added nine. Saint Mary was 20-of-58 from the field for 34.5 percent. Leonard and Janae Garcia each had seven rebounds for the Spires.

Wesleyan, winner of seven of its last nine and three straight, is on the road with a key contest at Sterling on Saturday, before heading to Friends a week from tonight. The Coyotes close the regular season at home on February 23 against Tabor.

-- KWU SI --