[Women's Basketball] Women's Basketball is No. ...

The No. 3-seeded Coyotes play sixth-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan in a quarterfinal game of Kansas Conference women's tournament on Thursday at Mabee Arena. Tip-off is 7 p.m. The winner advances to the semifinals against either second-seeded Sterling or No. 7 Friends at 7 p.m. Saturday, at the site of the higher seeded team. The championship game will be played at 8 p.m., Feb. 25, at Hartman Arena in Park City.

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 6:45 p.m.

KANSAS WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
The No. 18 Coyotes are 20-10 overall and finished third in the Kansas Conference's regular season with an 18-6 record. They lost to Bethany 77-67 in their last regular-season game Saturday at Mabee Arena, but defeated OKWU twice during the regular season – 80-64 Nov. 17 in Bartlesville, Okla., and 79-66 Jan. 12 in Salina. Sydney Mortensen (SR/Wichita, Kan.) scored 21 points and Haleigh Bradford (JR/Schertz, Texas) 16 in the first game for KWU, which led 25-10 after the first quarter. Bradford had 21 points and Kayla Kivinski (SR/Port Richey, Fla.) 20 for the Coyotes in the second contest, a game the Coyotes led 27-14 after one quarter.

Wesleyan has had a balanced scoring attack this season and ranks second in points per game in the KCAC (74.5). The Coyotes are second in 3-point field goal percentage (33.6) and fourth in overall field goal percentage (41.1). They rank second in assists (13.1), average 17.1 turnovers and out-rebound the opposition by 5.1 per outing.

Wesleyan allows 64.6 points per game (eighth KCAC) and opposing teams are shooting 39.4 percent (ninth KCAC), 28.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (sixth KCAC). The Coyotes are forcing 19.9 turnovers per game (third KCAC), are second in steals (10.7) and fourth in blocks (3.5).

Kivinski leads the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game, followed by Courtney Heinen (JR/Axtell, Kan.) (10.4), Mortensen (9.0), Bradford (8.4), Amanda Hill (SO/Rossville, Kan.) (7.9), Virja Lewis (SO/Kansas City, Kan.) (7.6) and Gabbie Miller (SR/Kiefer, Okla.) (7.3). Mortensen's second in the KCAC in made 3-pointers (66) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (41.0). Lewis is sixth in rebounding (7.6) while Miller ranks third in steals (2.2), third in assists (3.0) and averages 5.4 rebounds.

Oklahoma Wesleyan defeated KWU 86-74 in Bartlesville, Okla., in the quarterfinals of last year's conference tournament.

OKLAHOMA WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
The Eagles are 18-11 overall after going 14-10 in conference play. They're 5-4 since assistant coach Grace Hadley was promoted to head coach Jan. 18, following the resignation of Mark Molder. OKWU has won its last three games, including an 83-70 victory over Southwestern on Saturday in Winfield in the regular season finale. The three-game winning streak followed three consecutive losses.

Much like KWU, Oklahoma Wesleyan has a balanced offensive attack. Hannah Nealis leads the team with an 11.5 scoring average and had 25 points against Southwestern on Saturday. She scored 12 against KWU in the first game and four the second. Nealis ranks fourth in 3-pointers made (60) and second 3-point field goal percentage (42.6). Six other Eagles average at least 5.9 points – Amanda Hart 9.9, Danae Goodwin 9.4, Makayla Melton 9.1, Ashley Cook 6.7, Coley Ickes 6.0, and Lauren Richter 5.9. Melton (5.4) and Richter (5.3) are the top rebounders.

The Eagles rank third in scoring in the KCAC (70.9), second in field goal percentage (42.0) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (31.7). They're third in assists per game (12.8) and average 16.0 turnovers.

Defensively, they're fourth in scoring (62.2), third in field goal percentage (35.5) and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (28.9). OKWU's second in blocks per game (3.5), ninth in steals (6.9) and force 16.9 turnovers. They outrebound opposing teams by 2.2 per game.

THE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
Kansas Conference regular season champion Tabor is the top seed in the KCAC tournament, finishing 25-3 overall and 22-2 in the KCAC. Sterling is the No. 2 seed, KWU third, Bethel coming off one of its best seasons in school history is fourth, Bethany is the No. 5 seed, Oklahoma Wesleyan sixth, Friends seventh and conference newcomer Avila is the No. 8 seed.

In Thursday's quarterfinal match-ups, Tabor will host Avila, Sterling hosts Friends, KWU hosts Oklahoma Wesleyan and Bethel hosts Bethany. All quarterfinal games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff. In the semifinals, the winner between Avila and Tabor will take on the Bethany vs Bethel winner and in the other semifinal, the KWU/OKWU winner will take on the winner between Sterling and Friends at 7 p.m. at the higher seed.

The KCAC tournament championship is on Monday at 8 p.m. at Hartman Arena in Park City. The semifinal winners will meet in the game to determine one of two automatic berths to the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa.

The first berth from the conference is the tournament champion. The second berth is awarded to the highest remaining seed in the tournament, regardless of finish in the tournament.