Saturday night's KCAC women's basketball match-up between the top two teams in the conference in Kansas Wesleyan and Friends did not disappoint.
The Coyotes rallied in the second half, and would hold off any sort of attempt at a rally by Friends down the stretch for a 73-69 victory inside Mabee Arena.
The win completed the season sweep of the Falcons by the Coyotes and increased KWU's lead in the Kansas Conference standings to two games over the rest of the field.
Friends led 5-0 to start the game, but the Coyotes hung tough keeping things close, getting within a point several times, the last at 11-10 with 3:45 to go in the first on Odessa Ozuna's free throws, but Friends would take a 14-10 lead after the first quarter.
Hampton Williams opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer getting the Coyotes within a point, but Friends pushed its lead out to seven at 20-13 and then took a 24-15 lead with 6:51 left in the half.
Friends led 26-17 with 6:16 left when the Coyotes started to chip away. Jill Stephens hit a 3-pointer, Angel Lee converted a pair of free throws and Paige Chauncey scored to get the Coyotes within three at 27-22.
The Falcons took a 33-26 lead with 2:09 left, but the Coyotes cut the difference to 34-31 at the halftime buzzer.
Wesleyan continued to work its way back into it, tying things up at 40 with 6:25 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by LaMyah Ricks. The teams went back and forth trading baskets until Ozuna hit a 3 with 2:15 to go giving Wesleyan a 52-50 lead.
Friends got five straight points to take a 55-52 lead, but the Coyotes finished the quarter on a flurry getting four points in nine seconds to take a 56-55 lead at the end of the quarter as Ricks stole the inbounds pass and scored as time expired.
KWU opened the fourth on a 6-2 run to take a 62-57 lead on a bucket by Lee, who would not be deterred in the post.
The Falcons got within a point at 67-66 with 3:45 left but Williams and Lee scored for the Coyotes to make it 71-66 with 2:42 left and Ozuna's bucket with 41 seconds left would seal the win for the Coyotes.
Lee had 22 points to lead the Coyotes while Ozuna had 11 and Ricks and Chauncey 10 each. Chauncey pulled down 10 rebounds as well helping KWU outrebound Friends 41-40.