Harper Taylor was pleased with her basketball team's work on the defensive end of the court, but not so much on the offensive side.

Kansas Wesleyan limited Tabor to 55 points on 43 percent shooting that included 0 of 6 from 3-point range and forced 14 turnovers – nine of them steals. The Coyotes, though, shot 37 percent, had 14 turnovers of their own and were outscored 44-28 in the paint resulting in a 55-50 Kansas Conference loss Saturday night inside Mabee Arena.

KWU fell to 11-13 overall, 8-9 in the KCAC while Tabor improved to 11-13 and 9-9 in conference play.

The first and second halves were mirror images. The Coyotes scored four points in the first quarter and eight in the third but flipped the switch in the second and fourth quarters scoring 19 in each.

"We came out pretty flat in the first; we came out pretty flat in the third," coach Harper Taylor said. "We had great second and fourth quarters, we just needed one more quarter that was as good as the second and the fourth. Offensively, we struggled a lot."

Tabor, perennially one of the top defensive teams in the NAIA, entered the game allowing conference opponents an average of 57 points on 42 percent shooting. KWU was 20 of 54 from the field including 5 of 17 from long range.

"We just aren't making quick enough decisions offensively," Taylor said. "We're like a half a second late, two seconds late. Tabor is really disciplined. They run their defensive schemes really well and we just couldn't match it."

The Coyotes trailed 16-4 midway through the second quarter but battled back. They ended the half on a 5-2 run and trailed 26-23 at intermission.

Wesleyan scored two points in the final 3½ minutes of the third quarter but held the Bluejays to two points during that span and trailed 34-31 entering the final 10 minutes.

Odessa Ozuna's layup with 6½ minutes remaining tied it at 38 but Tabor scored six of the next seven and led 44-39 with 4:44 left. The Coyotes fought back one more time and got within 51-50 on an Izzy McCool layup with 19.4 second left but the Bluejays made four free throws sandwiched around an errant KWU shot down the stretch.

"The defensive effort was great," Taylor said. "Once you have it, you've got to be able to turn it into points. If you can't turn it into points, then you're not going to win. But I thought we fought really hard."

McCool accounted for nearly half of the scoring finishing with 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting. She scored 14 in the second half.

"Izzy just had something in her that said she wasn't going to walk away with a loss," Taylor said. "As an upperclassman and someone who has experience, she knows that. She knew that nobody else was going to get us going, I thought she did a great job of trying to take the charge and lead us to the win tonight."

Ozuna added 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Lillie Veer led Tabor with 18 points while Tayton Smith had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Coyotes play Bethel at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Mabee Arena. The Threshers (17-7, 14-4 KCAC) defeated Avila 72-65 Saturday in Kansas City and have won eight in a row.