NORTH NEWTON - Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball rallied from a four-point deficit in the final five minutes of Thursday's game against the Morningside Mustangs to come away with a 61-55 win at the Bethel College Classic.
The victory evens Wesleyan's record at 1-1 overall while Morningside suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 2-1.
It was also the first win for the Coyotes over Morningside in program history, going 0-6 in the previous meetings between the teams.
The Coyotes trailed 52-48 with five minutes left in the game before pushing the 'go' button. Izzy McCool hit a 3-pointer to draw the Coyotes within a point, but Morningside regained a 3-point margin before Odessa Ozuna's three-point play with 3:44 left tied the game at 54.
Free throws by McCool with 3:01 left gave the Coyotes the lead at 56-54, but no one scored after that for the next two minutes until Morningside got a free throw with 42 seconds left to get within a point.
Anna Jueneman scored with 11 seconds left to put the Coyotes up three, and McCool would connect on three free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Wesleyan closed the game on a 13-3 run to rally for the win.
The Coyotes led 12-9 after a quarter, but an 8-0 run to start the second by Morningside gave the Mustangs a 17-12 lead with 7:44 left. The Coyotes answered right back with their own eight-point charge to reclaim a 20-17 lead on Jueneman's bucket with 5:48 left in the half.
The teams would head into the half tied at 24 as Raegann McDonald's free throws with 13 seconds left were the equalizer.
The lead went back-and-forth to start the third until the Coyotes built a 40-30 advantage on free throws by Katrina Schutz with 4:36 left in the quarter. Morningside outscored the Coyotes 11-2 over the remainder of the quarter to draw within a point at 42-41.
Morningside took a 45-44 lead with 7:32 left in the game but the Coyotes would get the lead back on McCool's bucket on the next possession. The Mustangs built a four-point lead twice, the last time at the 4:59 mark before the Coyotes rallied.
Jueneman led four Coyotes in double figures with 16 points while McCool and Ozuna had 14 each and Schutz had 10. Ozuna also dished out eight assists and had three steals. McCool and Schutz led the Coyotes with eight rebounds each.
The Coyotes shot 19 of 50 from the field for 38 percent and 5 of 17 from 3-point range.