McPHERSON - The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes recovered from a slow start, using big performances in the second and fourth quarters to pull away from the McPherson Bulldogs for a 65-50 win on Wednesday night at Holman Fieldhouse.
The win keeps the Coyotes in first place in the KCAC, a game ahead of Friends University in the conference standings. KWU is 14-3 overall and 10-1 in the conference schedule.
It was a rough start for the Coyotes who went 3 of 11 from the field in the first 10 minutes and trailed 15-10, but things turned around for the Coyotes in the second.
KWU trailed by as many as six in the first, the last time at 13-7 with a minute left, before Hampton Williams turned in a three-point play to halve the deficit. The Bulldogs would get a bucket before the end of the period to lead 15-10.
Wesleyan cut McPherson's lead to two at 17-15 on a bucket by Odessa Ozuna with 6:58 left in the second, but free throws gave the Bulldogs another four-point cushion. Four straight by the Coyotes, a bucket by Ozuna and one from Williams drew the Coyotes even at 19 with 6:07 to go.
McPherson led again until Jill Stephens hit a pair of free throws with 3:50 left in the half to give KWU its first lead of the game at 23-22.
McPherson had a 26-25 lead when the Coyotes finally got the offense going. A Stephens free throw tied it, and four points from Catherine Bowman and a Paige Chauncey bucket secured a 7-0 run for the visitors and sent KWU into the break up 32-26.
The Coyotes pushed the lead out to as many as nine in the third at 41-32 on a steal by Stephens that led to a Williams run-out basket, but McPherson was able to trim the lead to three at 45-42 at the end of the quarter.
Wesleyan scored the first four points of the fourth to take a 49-42 lead on Chauncey's rebound and basket, and Williams' bucket with 2:52 to go pushed the lead to double digits for the first time at 57-46.
A triple by Stephens with 1:43 left ended the possibility of any wild comeback by McPherson at the end, and her free throws with 19 seconds left capped the scoring.
Stephens and Lee paced the Coyotes with 13 points each, while Ozuna added 12 and Williams 10. Chauncey added seven and had another monster game on the boards with 12 rebounds, helping KWU to a 42-32 rebounding advantage.