STERLING - The Kansas Wesleyan women are the top team in the Kansas Conference, and they showed why emphatically Wednesday night.
KWU shot 52.5 percent, limited Sterling to 33.3 percent and rolled to an 81-58 victory inside the Gleason Center.
It was the sixth consecutive victory and 16th in the last 17 for the Coyotes who improved to 18-3 overall, 14-1 in the conference.
Wesleyan made 17 of 24 shots and outscored Sterling 43-24 in the second half after leading 38-34 at halftime. The Coyotes were 10 of 11 from the field in the third quarter and extended the lead to 64-50 entering the fourth quarter. Sterling managed just eight points on 3 of 16 shooting the final 10 minutes.
The Warriors (14-8, 9-6 KCAC) entered the game leading the KCAC in points per game (78) and shooting percent (47.5) but were 20 of 60 - just 7 of 32 (21.9 percent) the second half.
"The defense the second half was really, really stout and that fourth quarter defense was big time," coach Ryan Showman said on the postgame radio show.
Jill Stephens led the offense with 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting that included 6 of 9 from the 3-point line. Angel Lee was also 7 of 11 from the field and scored 14 to go along with seven assists. Paige Chauncey scored 11 and Odessa Ozuna 10 while Hampton Williams had 10 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and eight points.
The Coyotes were 32 of 61 shooting on the night. Showman credited the success to the team's work against some difficult competition during practice this week.
"I've got to give a shoutout to the men's basketball developmental team," he said. "They came in on Monday and they ran the exact defense that we saw tonight. I think going against their length and athleticism slowed things down for us and what you saw was just really great execution."
Sterling scored the first basket of the game, but KWU led the rest of the way. An 8-0 run midway through the second quarter gave the Coyotes a 33-20 lead but Sterling ended the half on a 14-6 run to get within four.
KWU pulled away at the start of the third quarter with a 12-3 burst and closed on an 8-2 run. The Coyotes had 22 assists on 32 made baskets for the game.
"We came back out (the second half) and finished shots - shots we got the first half but didn't finish," Showman said. "We pride ourselves on sharing the ball, we talk about 'it's our shot, it's not my shot' and we really worked for that tonight."
Korynn Clason led Sterling with 23 points but was the only Warrior in double figures.