LINDSBORG - The Kansas Wesleyan women lost the battle against Bethany but emerged the victors in the 2024-25 war against the Kansas Conference.
The first place Coyotes fell to the Swedes 75-68 Wednesday night in Hahn Gymnasium but were all smiles as they headed back to Salina after Friends and Tabor, who were tied for second, both lost. Southwestern stunned Friends 82-78 in Winfield and Bethel upset Tabor 60-57 in North Newton.
KWU clinched a tie for the conference title and secured the automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship with a 106-54 victory over Southwestern on Saturday. The Coyotes entered play Wednesday with a two-game lead over Friends and Tabor with two games remaining.
"That's not the way we wanted to clinch it outright, but this game is way too hard to win and we know that from the last five years so we're not going to argue with it at all," coach Ryan Showman said. "We're going to take it and run to the next game."
The Coyotes (21-6 overall, 17-4 KCAC) play Ottawa in the regular-season finale and Senior Night at 5 p.m. Saturday in Mabee Arena.
"We're going to take a step back and look at the big picture," Showman said. "Nobody wants to lose, and we haven't done a lot of it this year. You look at what this team has accomplished throughout the year and it's incredible.
"We returned a lot of the same players from last year when we had a lot of opportunities that we left on the table. And to come back and totally change our mindset and win an outright championship ... all the credit goes to the ladies on the team."
Tied at 57 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter Bethany went on a 10-3 run that included a 7-0 spurt and led 66-59 with 1:39 left. The Coyotes got within four twice (70-66 and 72-68) in the final minute but couldn't pull even.
"I didn't think we finished plays very well," Showman said. "I thought we had opportunities to finish, I thought we had some good looks by people that I would trust everything with and just couldn't get the ball to drop. That's the name of the game; you've got to make shots. You've got to make big plays on the road, and we just didn't do it."
It was a close game until the fourth quarter. KWU led 18-16 after the first quarter, it was tied 31-31 at halftime and the Coyotes led 53-51 after three quarters.
LaMyah Ricks led Wesleyan with 16 points while Hampton Williams had 14, Paige Chauncey 12 and Angel Lee 11. The Coyotes shot 42 percent (24 of 57) but were 2 of 16 from deep. They committed 18 turnovers that led to 24 Bethany points and were outrebounded 38-31.