DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball team was down 19 points to Rochester Christian with two minutes left in the third quarter on Thursday in the Daytona Beach Shootout at Ocean Center Arena.
The Coyotes weren't finished though. Wesleyan came all the way back, tying things up with 44 seconds left in regulation before coming away with an 86-85 double overtime win over the Rochester Christian Warriors.
The game was tied at 33 at halftime, but Rochester Christian took control in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. A 24-5 run by the Warriors gave them a 57-38 lead with 2:01 to go in the quarter.
That's when the comeback started.
Paige Chauncey scored for the Coyotes who closed the third on a 6-0 run capped by
Anna Jueneman's steal, layup and free throw to make it 57-44 after three.
RCU had a 15-point cushion with 8:23 left in the game, but the Coyotes continued to chip away, getting the difference to single digits with 7:26 left on a bucket by Chauncey making it 61-53.
Neither team scored for over two minutes, but after the drought, the Coyotes continued to draw closer. As five straight points by
Izzy McCool got the Coyotes within two at 67-65 with 1:30 left. The teams traded free throws ahead of McCool's game-tying charities with 44 seconds left.
RCU had first look at a game winner, but missed and Ozuna rebounded. The Coyotes had a chance with 1.3 seconds left, but Jueneman's 3-point try missed and the game went to extra time.
Wesleyan scored the first four points of overtime, but RCU came back and tied it at 72. Free throws by McCool gave the Coyotes a 74-72 lead with 2:33 to go, but the Warriors tied it and took a 76-74 lead with 42 seconds left.
Freshman
Raegann McDonald would tie things up at 76 with free throws with 23 seconds left in the first overtime, but RCU again used free throws, one on each of two trips to the line to take a 78-76 lead with 5.4 seconds left.
Without a timeout left, the Coyotes had to inbound, and
Odessa Ozuna sprinted the length of the floor and scored it as time expired to send the game to double overtime.
Adriana DiPrima hit a 3-pointer to open the second overtime for the Coyotes as KWU built another four-point lead at 82-78, but again RCU came back and took an 85-84 lead with 1:35 to go.
Neither team could score despite several chances, including missed free throws by RCU with 30 seconds left.
McDonald again came up huge for the Coyotes at the end. She rebounded a miss of a shot with 11 seconds left and after Jueneman's initial miss of a potential game winner, she rebounded and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left and hit both free throws to give KWU the 86-85 lead.
RCU called timeout to advance the ball, and their 3-point shot as time expired missed and the Coyotes came away with the win.
Wesleyan built an 18-12 lead in the first quarter with 2:49 left and again led by six late in the quarter before settling for a 3-point lead after the first quarter.
RCU cut it to a point in the second, but KWU pushed back out to a 26-21 lead on DiPrima's bucket with seven minutes left in the half.
The Warriors tied it and took a 33-30 lead with 1:45 left in the quarter before
Kelsey Koza's 3-pointer with 53 seconds tied it at 33, where the score held until the half.
Ozuna led the Coyotes with 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and handed out five assists. McDonald added 18, including going 10 of 11 at the free throw line, and led the team with 13 rebounds. McCool had 13 and DiPrima 10 for KWU who shot 27 of 73 for the game for 37 percent, but struggled from 3-point range, hitting just 4 of 23 tries for 17.4 percent. KWU went 28 of 36 at the line for 78 percent.
The Coyotes are now off until after the New Year when KWU heads to Hillsboro to take on Tabor on January 3.
