Ryan Showman had a simple three word response to summarize Kansas Wesleyan’s dominating performance of Southwestern on Monday night.
“It was awesome.”
All 15 players in uniform saw action for the Coyotes as Wesleyan routed the Southwestern Moundbuilders 89-41 on Monday night inside Mabee Arena.
Showman also said it was big that the Coyotes had a strong response after a difficult game on the road just two days ago (an 83-75 win at Ottawa on Saturday).
“It was a game where we were coming off a tough one Saturday and that after one day of rest and prep that we could come in and play a bunch of people and keep everyone fresh for this week, and get a lot of great contributions from everyone that played,” he said.
Southwestern led once in the game, at 3-2, but after that it was all Coyotes.
A 9-0 run capped by a bucket by LaMyah Ricks (SO/Shawnee Mission, Kan.) on a steal and score put the Coyotes up 11-3 with 5:26 left in the first. The Moundbuilders cut it to five at 11-6, but Wesleyan caught fire again closing the first quarter on a 16-2 run to take a 28-8 lead after one.
The Coyotes continued to pull away in the second, extending the lead to 43-18 when Megan Foote (FR/Louisburg, Kan.) hit a 3-pointer with four minutes left in the half.
KWU took a 44-20 lead into the half.
Amanda Hill (SR/Rossville, Kan.)’s 3 halfway through the third put the Coyotes up 56-24 as KWU continued to pull away.
Emily Rank (SR/Kansas City, Kan.)’s deep 3-pointer as time expired in the third gave the Coyotes a 66-29 lead after three quarters.
Wesleyan got good production in the fourth quarter from the reserves, who used an 11-2 run to end the game to pull away for the 89-41 win.
Showman was extremely pleased with the team effort in the fourth.
“Seeing players like Kourtney Kaufman (FR/Moundridge, Kan.) coming in and knocking shots down, and jut everyone producing for us was really fun to see,” he said. “It was really fun for the team and for them to get to celebrate the players on the bench that do so much for us every day.”
Amanda Hill‘s 18 led all scorers in the game as KWU was 31 of 79 shooting for 39.2 percent. KWU hit 13 of 27 3-pointers in the game for 48.1 percent. It was the most 3-pointers for the team since hitting 16 against Saint Mary on February 8, 2020.
Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) added nine, Kaufman had nine, Chevelle Ralstin (FR/Elkhart, Kan.) had eight, Rank had seven and Lauren Brown (SR/Wylie, Texas) had seven for the Coyotes on the evening.
KWU held Southwestern to 27.8 percent shooting for the game, and forced 23 Southwestern turnovers that turned into 29 KWU points. KWU also had 52 points off the bench.
Wesleyan has two extremely challenging games ahead on Thursday at No. 10 ranked Sterling, then hosting Tabor on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Mabee Arena.
