WINFIELD - Izzy McCool is doing her part to help the Kansas Wesleyan women gain a berth in the fast-approaching Kansas Conference postseason tournament.
McCool scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds in leading the Coyotes to a 55-42 victory over Southwestern on Saturday afternoon inside Stewart Fieldhouse. The effort came two games after she scored a then-career best 23 against Tabor on Feb. 7 in Mabee Arena.
McCool, a junior forward and transfer from Dordt, was 6 of 10 from the field and 10 of 12 at the free throw line as KWU improved to 12-13 and 9-11 in the KCAC with two games remaining in the regular season. The Coyotes are ninth in the standings one game behind Ottawa and Tabor who are both 10-10. The top eight teams in the final standings qualify for the tournament.
Leading 20-18 with 1½ minutes left in the first half KWU scored nine unanswered points, six on two Madison Lambert 3-pointers, and led 29-18 at intermission.
Clinging to a 29-20 lead early in the third quarter, the Coyotes pulled away for good with a 17-2 burst that gave them a 46-22 lead with 4:06 left in the period. They didn't score for the rest of the quarter but still had a sizeable 46-28 advantage going into the final 10 minutes.
KWU outscored Southwestern 38-20 in the second and third quarters.
Lambert finished with nine points on three 3-pointers off the bench. Odessa Ozuna scored seven to go along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
KWU shot 33.3 percent (17 of 51) including 9 of 37 from the 3-point line and limited Southwestern to 26 percent (16 of 62) including 4 of 31 from long range. The Coyotes outrebounded the Moundbuilders 41-35.
Kennedy Ford led Southwestern (4-21, 0-19 KCAC) with 11 points.
Wesleyan plays the arch-rivals on Senior Night at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Mabee Arena. It will be the Coyotes' last regular-season home game.