Coyote women fall to Southwestern 72-55
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Last time Southwestern and Kansas Wesleyan met in women’s basketball action, the Coyotes rallied from a 17-point deficit to force double overtime, only to drop a 72-71 decision to the Moundbuilders in Winfield. Tonight was not the case as Southwestern built an 11-point halftime margin and knocked off the Coyotes 72-55 on Saturday night at Muir Gym.

After taking an early lead, KWU found itself on the downside of a 7-4 score with 17:07 left in the first half after a Cortney Gandy score for Southwestern.

The Coyotes rallied with four straight points all from Tierra Baldwin to take an 8-7 lead with 15:20 left.

After each team would trade baskets, Wesleyan would take a 14-13 lead on a three from Charressa Gray with 12:33 left in the half, but Southwestern would grab the lead back on, and take a three point lead 17-14 on a bucket from Sara Maxwell with 11:08 left.

Wesleyan (8-14, 5-7) answered back with four points to take a 18-17 lead with 8:06 to go in the first half and Gray would push the run to 6-0 with a bucket with 7:38 to go, giving the Coyotes their biggest lead of the night at 20-17.

Southwestern would take the lead back, but Kaylaen Dittmer would get the Coyotes back in front 22-21 with 4:53 to go, marking the final lead for Wesleyan in the game.

The Moundbuilders used back to back threes from Maxwell to spark a 16-4 run to end the half and send the teams to the locker room with Southwestern leading 37-26.

Maxwell would give Southwestern a 13-point advantage with 14:43 left on a three at 45-32, and a pair of free throws from Maxwell two minutes later would push the Moundbuilder lead out to 15 at 49-34.

The Coyotes worked their way back into the game, cutting the Southwestern lead to nine at the 6:35 mark thanks in part to a 14-8 run capped by a pair of Khristy Santee free throws.

That was as close as the Coyotes would get the rest of the night as Southwestern  quickly closed the door with an 11-0 run to take a 20-point lead 68-48 with 2:34 left.

A three from Gray would break the run, but the Coyotes could get no closer than 16 the rest of the way as Southwestern broke Wesleyan’s two game winning streak.

Gray led Wesleyan with 17 points, while Baldwin recorded her seventh double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Wesleyan struggled to find the bucket tonight, shooting just 17-of-62 from the field for 27.4 percent, which included a 2-for-23 performance from long range (8.70 percent). Dittmer added eight rebounds and Gray had seven as the Coyotes outrebounded Southwestern 41-38.

Southwestern (16-5, 9-2) was led by Maxwell with 20, while Jenna Wilson recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Moundbuilders, as they shot 24-for-56 from the field for 42.9 percent. Tylar Hartfield would add seven rebounds for Southwestern.

Wesleyan is back at home on Thursday to take on McPherson, before heading on the road Saturday to play Bethel in North Newton.

-- KWU SI --