OLATHE, Kan. – Kansas Wesleyan Women's Basketball opened its season on Tuesday with a game against the No. 17 ranked MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers at the Cook Center and Bell Family Arena.
Facing a team that already had two games under its belt and returned a majority of players from last season's 28-win team, the Coyotes faced an uphill battle on paper.
But paper is paper, and basketball is basketball.
The Coyotes came back from a 16-point first half deficit and a 15-point second half deficit, but couldn't quite get over the top in the 78-72 loss to the Pioneers.
KWU fell behind to start but came back and tied the game at 7 on a 3-pointer by
Katrina Schutz with 6:25 left in the first. Another triple by newcomer
Annie Dawson game KWU a 10-7 lead and the Coyotes led by as many as four on
Anna Jueneman's triple with 5:18 left in the half.
MNU would come back and take a 16-13 lead on a 7-0 run with three minutes left in the quarter before pushing out to a 21-15 lead after 10 minutes of play.
The Pioneers stretched the lead out to a game-high 16 with 3:58 left in the second quarter and held the margin at the 2:06 mark before the Coyotes made it a 13-point game at the half.
KWU trained 50-35 with 8:04 to go in the third but another Jueneman triple started the Coyote rally. MNU led 55-42 with 3:38 to go in the third when KWU got a 7-0 burst to get within six at 55-49 on free throws by Schutz.
MNU led 59-49 with 8:50 left in the game when the Coyotes made another run.
Izzy McCool's bucket with 7:02 left got the Coyotes within three at 60-57. MNU built its lead back up to nine at 68-59 before KWU made one last run again cutting the difference to three at 70-67 on
Odessa Ozuna's 3-pointer with 37 seconds left.
KWU could get no closer as MNU would hit free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Jueneman was phenomenal for the Coyotes in her sophomore campaign debut shooting 11 of 14 from the field and scoring 26 points and pulling in a team best five rebounds. Dawson added 13 and McCool 10 as KWU was 27 of 60 from the field for 45 percent. Ozuna handed out seven assists.
KWU is back in action on Thursday heading the North Newton for the Bethel Classic taking on Morningside, and then Central Methodist on Friday. KWU does not play a home game until November 18 against Sterling.
