WICHITA - Kansas Wesleyan's frantic rally in the final five minutes of Monday's game with No. 23 ranked Friends, came up just a fraction of a second short.
The Coyotes battled back, trailing by eight points with four and a half minutes left to tie the score, but Friends scored with 5.2 seconds left to come away with the 81-79 win at the Garvey Center.
The teams played Monday night after the game was rescheduled from Saturday due to the winter storm that blanketed the area with several inches of snow over the weekend.
Wesleyan nearly won the game. After retaining possession with 0.4 seconds left on the clock after a review to reset the time, the Coyotes drew up a perfect play as Odessa Ozuna passed to Emma Gertken in the corner and she appeared to make a 3-point shot that would have won the game for the Coyotes.
The officials would review the play to ensure the shot was off in time, but it was determined that Gertken did not get the shot off in time.
It was a heartbreaking end to a fantastic game played by the Coyotes.
Friends scored the first six points of the contest, but the Coyotes came back, rallying from a nine-point deficit with 2:16 left in the first to cut the difference to a point at the end of the quarter on a 3-pointer by Gertken.
The second quarter saw the Coyotes take the lead for the first time to open the period on a bucket by Jocelyn Hall, and with the score tied at 28, the Coyotes used an 8-0 run on two Izzy McCool triples and a Gertken bucket to lead 36-28 with 2:29 left in the half.
Raegann McDonald's bucket just before the half gave the Coyotes a 43-31 lead at the break.
Things didn't go great for the Coyotes in the third. KWU had a 48-36 lead with 8:18 to go when Friends made a run. A 21-7 run by the Falcons gave Friends a 57-55 lead with 48 seconds left in the quarter.
The Falcons would lead 59-57 after three.
Friends built a seven-point margin with 9:08 left in the fourth, but the Coyotes battled back, getting within two on Hall's bucket with 7:37 left that made it 66-64.
The teams traded blows back and forth until Friends pulled out to a 74-66 lead with 4:26 left.
The Coyotes then started their rally using a three-point play by McDonald. McDonald would score all 11 of KWU's points during the comeback as KWU outscored Friends 11-3 over the next three minutes to tie things up at 77 with 1:42 to go.
Five Coyotes reached double figures led by McCool with 18. McDonald had 17, just missing her career high, Gertken had 15, Anna Jueneman had 14 and Hall had 11. Wesleyan shot 30 of 63 from the field for 47.6 percent and was 9 of 18 from 3-point range.