YORK, Neb. - Emma Gertken scored a career-high 18 points in helping the Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball team defeat the York University Panthers 73-60 on Wednesday night at the Freeman Center.
The victory also ends a two-game losing streak for the Coyotes and improves KWU's record to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the Kansas Conference.
It took a little bit for the Coyotes to get going, as KWU didn't score for over two minutes when Adriana DiPrima hit a 3-pointer to take a 3-2 lead. Jocelyn Hall gave the Coyotes a 5-4 lead with 7:02 to go in the first before York tied it at 5-all.
A 3-pointer by Madison Lambert gave KWU the lead again at 8-5 and Paige Chauncey's score with 6:06 left made it 10-5. York got within a point at 10-9 with 4:24 left in the quarter, but the Coyotes scored five straight points to take a 15-9 lead and a later bucket by Gertken pushed the lead out to 21-12 with 1:18 to go.
The Coyotes turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter. York got within two points at 23-21 with 8:24 to go in the half. The Panthers would not score again for over seven minutes, not scoring until the 1:02 mark. Meanwhile, the Coyotes would go on a 12-0 run during the stretch, pushing the lead out to 14 on Kelsey Koza's bucket with 1:12 left.
York cut the difference to nine before the half.
A 9-0 run to start the second half pushed KWU's lead out to 18 points capped by Lambert's bucket with 7:08 to go in the quarter. York would cut the KWU lead to six at 50-44 thanks to a 16-4 run, but the Coyotes would hold onto the lead 53-46 after three quarters.
York again got close, within four points at 55-51 with 9:06 left in the game, but the Coyotes would pull away pushing the lead out to 67-54 with 4:33 left on a pair of Gertken free throws.
Gertken's 18 points led all scorers in the game. Freshman Anna Jueneman added 15 as KWU shot 27 of 63 from the field for 42.9 percent. KWU was excellent at the line hitting 15 of 16 free throws. Odessa Ozuna led the Coyotes with 10 rebounds, helping KWU to a dominant performance on the boards outrebounding York 50-27.