YORK, Neb. - Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball opened its three-game road trip on Wednesday with an 84-80 win over the York University Panthers at the Freeman Center.
The win gets the Coyotes back on the right track after Saturday's loss to Saint Mary and keeps the Coyotes ahead in the KCAC standings by two games over Friends, who beat Tabor on Wednesday night.
It was another hold-on night for the Coyotes who led by 17 at the half and 13 at three-quarter time, but saw York get back into it down the stretch.
Wesleyan led 72-62 with 5:18 to go in the game after Angel Lee scored after York had cut the difference to eight. The Panthers got it to six at 72-66 with 4:41 left, but a pair of free throws by Hampton Williams with 4:07 left put KWU up eight at 74-66.
The Coyotes left by seven with 32 seconds left, and were up six with 11 seconds left on free throws by Catherine Bowman before the Panthers hit a 3-pointer to make it 83-80. Jill Stephens hit 1 of 2 free throws with a second left to seal the win for the Coyotes.
The Coyotes jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the game, but York got as close as a point at 9-8 before a Williams triple made it 12-8 with 7:11 left in the first.
York got within two at 14-12, but then went over five minutes without scoring while the Coyotes built a 21-12 lead with 1:32 left.
Stephens' 3-pointer with eight minutes left in the first half pushed Wesleyan's lead out to 31-18, and free throws by Jocelyn Hall gave KWU a 39-21 lead with 3:42 to go.
Kourtney Kaufman offered some late quarter heroics, scoring 10 points in the final four minutes of the half to send KWU into the break up 46-29.
A 3-pointer by Odessa Ozuna pushed the Coyote lead to 20 with 4:45 to go in the third, but York was able to cut the difference to 13 at the end of the quarter at 63-50.
Six Coyotes scored in double figures led by Williams with 15, while Stephens had 14, LaMyah Ricks 12, and 10 each from Bowman, Lee and Kaufman. KWU was 25 of 51 from the field for 49 percent, which included hitting 11 of 23 3-pointers for 47.8 percent. Williams had nine rebounds to lead the Coyotes.
Destiny Shepherd had 30 for York.