NORTH NEWTON - Anna Jueneman poured in a career high 24 points, but her monster effort wasn't quite enough as the Coyotes fell to Bethel 81-75 on Wednesday night at Thresher Gym.
Jueneman, just a freshman, went 11 of 14 from the field against the Threshers and also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals on the night.
Turnovers were again the bugaboo for the Coyotes as KWU committed 24 miscues that led to 24 Bethel points.
The Coyotes scored the first five points of the game and held the lead until the 3:37 mark of the first when the Threshers took their first lead of the night. Bethel built as much as a seven-point margin in the first quarter, but the Coyotes stayed right there trailing by six after the first.
Bethel pushed its lead out to 11 points at 27-16 with 8:09 left in the second, but the Coyotes battled back get four straight points from Jueneman to get within five at 27-22 with seven minutes left in the half.
Izzy McCool's free throws with 2:35 left in the half cut Bethel's lead to four, but the Threshers responded with eight straight points to take a 41-29 lead with 1:10 left in the half.
KWU trailed 43-31 at the break.
Wesleyan hung tough, never letting Bethel lead by more than 13 points in the game.
Bethel led by 12 with 9:20 left in the third, but the Coyotes cut the difference to six with 5:41 left in the third on a bucket by Kelsey Koza.
Odessa Ozuna's free throws right before the end of the third cut the difference to five at 60-55.
The Threshers got the first eight points of the fourth quarter to lead 68-55, but the Coyotes stayed right there. Jueneman's bucket with 12 seconds left cut the difference to four points again at 79-75, but the Coyotes couldn't get over the top.
Jueneman's 24 led all scorers in the game as KWU shot 49.2 percent from the field (30 of 61), which included a 58 percent effort in the second half (17 of 29). McCool added 16 and Ozuna had 12. Ozuna and McCool led the Coyotes with six rebounds each.