Kansas Wesleyan women's coach Ryan Showman had no problem pinpointing the reason his team was so successful against arch-rival Bethany.
"Our defensive effort was phenomenal, one of the best of the year," he said of the Coyotes' 57-47 Kansas Conference victory Wednesday night inside Mabee Arena.
KWU limited Bethany to 22 of 61 shooting (26.1 percent) and that was after the Swedes made 7 of their last 11 shots of the game.
The Coyotes improved to 16-3 on the season and remain atop the KCAC standings at 12-1. It was their fourth consecutive victory, the 14th in their last 15 game and sets the stage for a showdown against second-place Friends (11-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Mabee Arena.
Bethany fell to 9-10 and 7-6.
KWU limited the Swedes to 22.6 percent shooting the first half (7 of 31) and 28.9 percent the second half. Bethany had just nine turnovers but rarely got a good look at the basket on offense, particularly the first shot.
"I thought our first-shot defense was absolutely incredible," Showman said.
Wesleyan led 28-21 at halftime thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Jill Stephens and Odessa Ozuna the final 1:05 of the half.
"The difference in the first half was I thought we were getting shots within our offense, but we weren't finishing," Showman said. "I didn't think they were getting very much out of their offense and that was a credit to our defense. I thought we did a great job making things tough and taking them out of what they wanted to do."
KWU scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and never looked back. The Coyotes took a 42-27 lead into the fourth quarter and had their biggest lead of the game (23) with 6:20 left.
Bethany was 2 of 14 from 3-point range for the game and KWU won the rebounding battle 49-45. Kylie Dunn led the Swedes with nine points, all in the first half.
"We worked together super well (defensively)," said junior forward Hampton Williams who had 10 rebounds, six points, three assists and three blocked shots. "We probably didn't communicate as much as we should have but we preach defense. We're really bonded and know where each other is at and trust each other to be there."
Like Showman, Williams was pleased with the team's defensive work early in each Bethany possession.
"I think it's very impressive that it was like 36 minutes that they had no first-chance buckets - that's like almost unheard of," she said. "It just showed that our defensive effort is really paying off and people can actually see we work super hard at it."
KWU shot 36.1 percent (22 of 61) including 8 of 26 from the 3-point arc. Angel Lee scored 14 and was the only player in the game to reach double figures. Cat Bowman, Ozuna and Stephens finished with nine each as eight of the nine Coyotes who played scored.
Bowman and Paige Chauncey grabbed eight rebounds apiece.
"One of our strengths is our bench, it doesn't matter who comes off of it," Showman said. "People contribute and we're going to need that depth moving forward."
Friends defeated Bethel 75-64 Wednesday in Wichita. It was the Falcons' sixth consecutive victory and eighth in the last nine games.