BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Paige Chauncey scored 18 points, and the Kansas Wesleyan women ended the game on a 6-1 run enroute to a 62-58 Kansas Conference victory Saturday night.
It was the Coyotes' third consecutive victory and their fifth in the last six games (5-2, 3-0).
Chauncey, a junior forward and the team's lone returning starter, was 7 of 10 from the field, 4 of 5 at the free throw line and had four rebounds and four assists.
"I've been really excited about her progression and just how she's been able to contribute with our team," coach Harper Taylor said on the postgame radio show. "And I feel like her confidence is really helping some of our other players gain that confidence as well. When she goes in it's a dominating force to be reckoned with and I'm really proud of that."
Odessa Ozuna added 11 points and five rebounds and Izzy McCool had 10 points and four rebounds.
A 13-2 OKWU run that bridged the first and second quarters gave the Eagles a 23-12 lead with 6:21 left in the first half.
The Coyotes promptly answered with a 13-0 burst of their own and trailed 28-26 at halftime.
A 7-0 Eagles' run gave them a 37-30 lead with six minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Wesleyan responded with a 16-6 spurt and led 46-43 with 8:02 remaining - the last three points on Adriana DiPrima's 3-pointer.
The game remained close until the final 2½ minutes. Trailing 57-56 Emma Gertken's 3-pointer gave the Coyotes a 59-57 lead and ignited the pivotal last run. Two Ozuna free throws with 10.2 seconds left made it 61-58 and OKWU missed a shot and two free throws in the waning seconds. DiPrima clinched it with a free throw with 1.2 seconds left.
Taylor said her team is still learning.
"We're trying to find the open person at the right time," she said. "Some of our timing and pacing is there but I just think as a young team we are still trying to work through a lot of those X's and O's."
The Coyotes shot 47 percent (23 of 49) including 6 of 14 from 3-point range. They were outrebounded 27-25 but had just 10 turnovers and got 28 bench points compared to OKWU's 10.
Gracie Alexander led OKWU (3-3, 0-3) with 16 points. The Eagles shot 45.5 percent (24 of 54), were 5 of 19 from deep and had 12 turnovers.
"Excited about it, ecstatic about it, but I know that we've got a lot to work on," Taylor said. "I am happy with how much fight our team had. I feel like we kind of came out a little bit flat in some different areas but I'm just proud of how they were able to finish."