OTTAWA, Kan. - Anyone that's ever been in Ottawa's Wilson Fieldhouse knows it is not an easy place to play a basketball game.
The Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball team got a much needed win to open Kansas Conference play dispatching the Ottawa Braves 83-81 on Saturday afternoon inside Wilson Fieldhouse.
The Coyotes did so having to rally from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter. Ottawa led 30-18 with 8:22 to go in the period when the Coyotes made their run.
A 12-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by Kourtney Kaufman got the Coyotes right back into the game with 3:27 to go before the half. Ottawa took a 34-30 lead, but the Coyotes bounced back again tying it on four straight points by Odessa Ozuna. The game went to the half tied at 39 after LaMyah Ricks hit a free throw with five seconds to go before the half.
Ottawa led 46-43 with 7:38 to go in the third when the Coyotes really got things going again. A bucket by Ricks tied it at 47 and Hampton Williams gave the Coyotes a 49-47 lead. Ottawa tied it again before Jocelyn Hall's score gave KWU a 51-49 lead with 4:26 to go.
Hall's bucket sparked a 15-2 run for the Coyotes to close the quarter capped by Jill Stephens' three at the buzzer that made it 64-51 Coyotes.
Williams scored to give the Coyotes a 15-point cushion, but a resilient Ottawa team battled back, cutting the lead to eight with 3:47 left, and down to three with under a minute left.
Stephens hit free throws with three seconds left, pushing KWU's lead out to five but Ottawa hit a 3-pointer from 35-feet out at the buzzer to end the game with KWU's 83-81 win.
Ricks led the Coyotes with 15 points, while Paige Chauncey had 13, Stephens 12 and Hall 10. KWU shot the ball very well, going 28 of 53 from the field for 52.8 percent. KWU did struggle at the free throw line, going 25 of 39. Hall led the Coyotes with six rebounds.