[Women's Basketball] Women's Basketball heads to Sterling in the KCAC Semifinals, Q & A ...
The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes seemingly flipped the switch during halftime of their Kansas Conference women's tournament quarterfinal game against Oklahoma Wesleyan on Thursday.
They shot just 21 percent from the field the first half, but trailed just 28-26 halftime. KWU turned the page during the break, shot a blistering 61 percent the second half and pulled away for an 85-74 victory in Mabee Arena.
The win sends the third-seeded Coyotes into the semifinals and a game against No. 2 seeded Sterling at 2 p.m. Saturday in Sterling. The winner advances to the tournament championship Monday night at Hartman Arena in Park City against either top-seeded Tabor or fifth-seeded Bethany.
LIVE COVERAGE
The game will be available online through the Coyote Sports Network, powered by Stretch Internet, http://portal.stretchinternet.com/kwu. There is a $7.95 pay per view fee for the stream. Live Stats will be available on the Stretch portal and on DakStats at www.dakstats.com/naia. Radio coverage will be on FM 104.9 in the Salina area and around the world at www.ksal.com. Pat Strathman will have the call with pregame starting at 1:45 p.m.
THE MATCH-UP
During the regular season, the two teams split the match-ups, each winning on their home court. Sterling won at the Gleason Center 84-75 on November 20, and the Coyotes won over the then No. 7 ranked Warriors 89-78 on January 16 inside Mabee Arena.
Wesleyan reached Saturday's semifinal after an 85-74 win over Oklahoma Wesleyan, and the Warriors won 73-64 over Friends.
LOOKING AT THE COYOTES
The Coyotes are 21-10 after Thursday's win over Oklahoma Wesleyan. KWU was led by Kayla Kivinski (SR/Port Richey, Fla.), who scored a career-high 27 points helping the Coyotes rally from a 28-26 halftime deficit after shooting just 21.1 percent as a team in the first 20 minutes. Amanda Hill (SO/Rossville, Kan.) had 13 and Haleigh Bradford (JR/Schertz, Texas) added 11. Virja Lewis (SO/Kansas City, Kan.) had 10 rebounds and Gabbie Miller (SR/Kiefer, Okla.) had eight.
Kivinski leads the Coyotes in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game on the season, as the All-KCAC guard is shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from 3-point range. Kivinski paces a balanced scoring attack for Wesleyan, as seven players are averaging at least 7.2 points per game. Lewis leads the Coyotes in rebounding at 7.7 per game.
LOOKING AT STERLING
Sterling reached the conference semifinals with a 73-64 win over Friends at the Gleason Center. Five players reached double figures for the Warriors but none scored more than 12 points from Alexis Theus. The Warriors overcame 22 turnovers and easily won the rebounding battle 59-41 led by 12 rebounds by Taya Wilson.
Kylah Comley, the KCAC Player of the Year, leads Sterling in scoring at 16.1 points per game, as four Warriors average double figures in scoring. Wilson leads the Warriors in rebounding at 8.7 per game. The Warriors are averaging 78.1 points per game, the best in the KCAC.
In Thursday's game, senior guard Sydney Mortensen (SR/Wichita, Kan.) scored nine points Thursday on 3 of 7 shooting from 3-point range and also had two assists. She has 69 3-pointers on the season and is shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc.
Mortensen, a psychology major and four-year starter, discussed the quarterfinal game, the upcoming contest with Sterling and the approaching end of her college basketball career during a question and answer session Friday.
Question: What happened during halftime Thursday that got things back on track?
Mortensen: In the locker room we talked about how we were down two and didn't play very well, so we were pretty lucky to be in that position. Our season was on the line and we talked about how we have 20 minutes or this thing's over for good. That's a scary reality, especially as a senior knowing this could be it.
Question: You looked for more comfortable shooting the ball. What was different?
Mortensen: It felt good to hit some shots. If I don't make shots there's a good chance we lose.
Question: Considering everything the team has been through recently, how big was the victory and the fact you played so well the second half?
Mortensen: It felt good, it felt like we were finally playing like us again. It felt like we were clicking well, people were hitting shots, smiling, doing a lot of high fives … it was just fun. It wasn't desperation like our last two Saturday games have been.
Question: Coach Ryan Showman said the Coyotes were as explosive on offense as he's seen. What do you attribute that to?
Mortensen: Showman has been stressing this is a new season, this is the first game in our new season. We had a three-game season, now it's a two-game season. I think that freshness, that newness kind of let go everything that's happened the last couple of weeks and start fresh. We're 1-0 now.
Question: How are you handling the fact it's your senior year and your career is winding down?
Mortensen: (Thursday) I was pretty upset after the game knowing that was the last game in Mabee. I was like dang, it's been a fun four years in here. I think everyone is just so focused on this next game and we don't think that losing is really an option. We're not worried about 'oh, this could be our last game, this is it for us.' We're just going 'hey, just one more win, just one more win.'
Question: What do the Coyotes have to do to defeat Sterling on Saturday?
Mortensen: I think the biggest thing is we have to lock down defensively and then create extra possessions on offense, whether that be forcing turnovers, getting offensive rebounds and finishing our shots.
Question: You were named to the Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team earlier in the week. What does that recognition mean to you?
Mortensen: It was a nice wrap-up to all the hard work. It's been a pretty rough four years balancing school and basketball and trying to make academics a high priority. It was nice to see that.
Question: What are you plans after graduation?
Mortensen: I'm actually taking a semester off and I'm currently applying for grad school to be a mental health counselor.
Question: Any chance you'd come back as a graduate assistant?
Mortensen: As much as I love basketball, I don't have a coaching eye. There are a lot of people on our team that do, but not me.