KWU Athletics
Amanda Hill's (SR/Rossville, Kan.) presumed final game inside Mabee Arena was like so many others she played there during her magnificent five-year career.
Hill, Kansas Wesleyan's career leader in points and games played, scored 21 and grabbed six rebounds as the Coyotes routed York 81-58 in a first-round contest of the Kansas Conference Tournament on Monday night.
KWU, the fifth seed, advances to the quarterfinals and will return to Wichita for a game against fourth-seeded Friends at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Garvey Center. The Falcons (22-9) downed the Coyotes 59-54 in the regular season finale Saturday in Wichita.
Friends defeated Southwestern 80-55 Monday night in Wichita.
Hill said she understood the circumstances going into the game.
"Me and Emily (Rank, a senior teammate) were talking about this could potentially be our last game in Mabee," Hill said. "We were a little sad but we just kind of tried to push off those feelings and just stay positive and get excited if it was our last game."
The Coyotes (20-10) had little trouble dispatching the Panthers for the third time this season. An impressive 28-3 run that bridged the first and second quarters gave them a 40-10 lead with 4:20 left in the half.
KWU led 45-20 at the break, Hill leading the charge with 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting. The Coyotes outscored York 24-16 in the third quarter and took a 69-36 lead into the final 10 minutes.
Hill was 9 of 12 from the field for the game, including 3 of 6 beyond the 3-point arc. She also had an assist, block and a steal.
Wesleyan shot 45 percent for the game (31 of 69), had a 45-35 rebounding advantage and forced 25 turnovers that led to 31 points.
"We just had the mindset that anything can happen – its' playoff time," Hill said. "I think we've seen in the KCAC there's been a lot of upsets and we didn't want that to happen here. We knew we needed to come out and take care of business and just play how we know how to play."
"I was really pleased with our start," KWU coach Ryan Showman said. "I thought we went out and set the tone right away and didn't let up. I'm really proud of them for having that playoff mindset of coming in and playing with a purpose and then finishing the deal."
Showman was pleased with Hill's performance, as he has been countless times.
"She was awesome, she was really, really good," he said. "She was the catalyst there in the first half. She did everything we needed her to do and we all just kind of piggybacked off that."
Backup point guard Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) added a career-high 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting and also had four steals and two assists.
"She's an explosive athlete," Showman said. "I feel like this semester, once she came back from Christmas break, the game slowed down. She understands, she's got it and for her to put that together you see flashes of the kind of player she can be."
York (5-25) shot 33 percent (19 of 58), 3 of 21 from deep and was led Amaia Diez's 17 points. Julia Trujillo added 14 and eight rebounds.
Showman also was happy to get the 20th victory.
"For these girls to achieve that 20-victory plateau is huge," he said. "It's a testament to their buy-in, their hard work. The blood, sweat and tears they've poured into each other and the season is reflected in that record."
Hill and Showman said they're looking forward to playing Friends again after the Falcons won both games during the regular season.
"We're going to be ready," Showman said. "We're thrilled to continue to have our season going and are excited to play again. They got us on Saturday and will have our full attention and we'll be ready to go."
"Against Friends (Saturday) we beat ourselves," Hill said. "We didn't finish offensively so this was a really good game to able to come out and finish offensively and get confidence in ourselves so that we can go back to Friends and win on Wednesday."