The Tabor Bluejays led by 14 points at one point in the first quarter. The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes didn't throw in the towel though in Saturday night's game at Mabee Arena.
The Coyotes battled back and forced overtime, but ultimately fell to the Bluejays 70-67 in overtime in Kansas Conference action.
"We recovered from that hot first quarter they had," Wesleyan coach Ryan Showman said. "We had our chances, we had plenty of chances to win the game, but we just didn't take advantage of them."
Wesleyan led 7-5 in the first quarter after Caila Hill (JR/Rossville, Kan.)'s bucket with 6:41 left, but Tabor would score the next five taking a 12-7 lead. Tabor's run would extend to a 20-8 charge that gave the Bluejays a 27-13 lead before Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.)'s bucket with 12 seconds left in the quarter ended the first at 27-15.
The Coyotes kept battling back and forth in the second quarter and cut the difference to nine on Amanda Hill (SR/Rossville, Kan.)'s bank shot from the right baseline as time expired making it 32-23 at the break.
KWU kept chipping away in the third, getting within five several times, the last with 6:15 to go on an Amanda Hill bucket. Tabor pushed its lead back out to as many as 12 before the Coyotes scored the final four points of the quarter cutting the difference to eight.
Showman credits the rally to a change in defense orchestrated by assistant coaches Dwanisha Tate and Harper Sheets.
"Coaches Tate and Sheets made a great defensive adjustment in the second half that we went to, that caused them some problems and forced them to try to score in different ways," he said.
While challenging Tabor to score the Coyotes would cut the difference to four on Kelcey Hinz (SR/Whitewater, Kan.)'s free throws with 6:27 left and Angel Roman's bucket with 4:18 left cut the difference to two at 58-56.
Freshman Catherine Bowman (FR/Bucklin, Kan.) hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to tie the game, and after a Tabor timeout, KWU would send the game into overtime as Zoe Shieldnight's potential game winner was off.
KWU led once in overtime, at 64-63, but Tabor would hit a 3 to reclaim the advantage and extend it to as many as five points. A bucket by Ricks with 8.6 seconds left cut the difference to three, and after Tabor turned it over, the Coyotes had a chance, but Ricks' potential game winning 3 was off.
Hinz had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as KWU was 23 of 58 shooting for 39.7 percent, but hit only 1 of 10 3-point tries in the game. Ricks and Bowman had 11 points each. Amanda Hill pulled down 12 rebounds to lead KWU to a 43-37 rebounding advantage.
KWU heads to Leavenworth on Wednesday to take on Saint Mary.