Coyotes survive and advance in NAIA National Tournament First Round
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Khristy Santee drives to the bucket against Aquinas' Carrie Abdo in KWU's 61-52 win in the first round of the NAIA National Championships. All photos by Jason Dannelly of College Fanz Sports Network

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Survive and advance is the name of the game in any tournament. Kansas Wesleyan did just that in their first ever NAIA National Tournament Appearance on Wednesday at the Tyson Events Center in a 61-52 win over Aquinas (Mich.) in the first round of the tournament.

Suffering a little bit of first time jitters, the Coyotes led Aquinas jump out to 6-0 lead on Logan Marsh’s steal and bucket with 17:29 left in the first half. The Coyotes rallied back, getting a bucket from Khristy Santee and a bucket by Kaylaen Dittmer to get back within two with 15:50 to go in the half.

Marsh countered with a three on Aquinas’ next possession, which was answered by LaCole Wilkinson on the other end with 13:36 left. Carrie Abdo hit a pair of free throws and Joslyn Narber hit a three to give Aquinas its biggest lead of the night at 14-7 with 10:21 to go in the first half.

The Coyote offense, led by Emily Luckeroth, then came alive. Sparked by Luckeroth’s 4-point play with 9:52 left, Wesleyan took its first lead of the night with 7:57 left in the half when Luckeroth scored to put the Coyotes up 18-16. Luckeroth scored all 11 points during the 11-2 run for Wesleyan.

Marsh scored for the Saints to tie things up and another pair of Abdo free throws gave Aquinas a 20-18 lead with 6:35 to go in the half.

Brandi Jensen then stuck back a miss of Wilkinson’s three with 3:57 left to tie things up and a layup by Dittmer gave the Coyotes a 22-20 lead with 3:20 to go. Abdo hit another free throw to get the Saints within one, but the Coyotes would get five straight points from Shelby Babcock to push the Wesleyan lead to 27-21 with 1:37 to go before the half.

Aquinas capitalized on two Wesleyan turnovers in the backcourt before the half to cut the lead to 27-25 with 13 seconds left on Katie Carbee’s third attempt stick back.

Jennie Vopat would get a rebound and score for the Coyotes to open the second half, which would be followed by two straight steals by Santee that yielded a bucket to put the Coyotes up six with 19:03 left.

Aquinas got back into the game, getting a three-point play from Narber, and a bucket by Marsh to get within one at 31-30 with 16:46 to go. A pair of Dittmer free throws kept Wesleyan ahead three with 15:36 to go, but Aquinas hung around tying the score at 35-all with 13:46 to go in the game on Kaitlyn Lang’s three-point play.

The Coyote offense then was stirred again. Wilkinson buried a three with 13:13 to go, as the Coyotes began to pull away. Wesleyan’s lead hit double digits for the first time at the 9:42 mark when Jessica Potthoff scored off a pass from Wilkinson that made it 46-36.

Lang hit a three with 6:51 left to get Aquinas back within five, but the Coyotes weren’t done yet. A three by Vopat as the shot clock was running out followed by another by Luckeroth, and a layup by Wilkinson off a steal by Dittmer put the Coyotes up 13. Wesleyan continued the onslaught, which turned into a 13-0 run after Santee’s three point play with 2:22 left that made it 61-43.

Wesleyan then emptied its bench with 1:24 left, and three straight three’s by Aquinas made things seem much closer than the final score indicated. After a timeout by the Saints with 28 seconds left, KWU coach Gordon Reimer put the starting five back in to make sure Aquinas could not get any closer.

The Coyotes were able to run out the clock and get their first ever NAIA Tournament win in the 61-52 decision.

Luckeroth led the Coyotes with 14, while Santee had 11 and Dittmer added 10 as the Coyotes were 23-of-55 from the field for 41.8 percent, and were perfect at the line going 8-for-8. Vopat led the way with nine rebounds, while Santee had eight as the Coyotes were just outrebounded by one 39-38 by the much taller, physical Saints.

Logan Marsh led Aquinas with 12, while Lang had 11 and star players Abdo and Narber finished with just 10 each. The Saints were 17-of-62 from the floor for 27.4 percent. Abdo led the Saints with seven rebounds as they finish their season at 19-11.

Wesleyan advances into the second round of the tournament, and will face the winner of the final game of the Wednesday session between Black Hills State (S.D.) and Southern Oregon. The second round game will be Friday night at 8:45 p.m. at the Tyson Events Center.

-- KWU SI --