By Ryan Tarletsky, Sports Editor
Expectations and anticipation were high heading into
Thursday night’s game for the women’s basketball team as it took on Kansas
Wesleyan (16-11), which was ranked third in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
With a victory, the Falcons
would earn one of the two conference bids into the 2012 NAIA National
Tournament in Sioux Falls, Iowa. But in typical dramatic fashion, this game would
be full of ups and downs, lead changes, momentum swings and a last-second win.
With a variety of motivating factors -- last home
game of the year, senior night, National Tournament bid -- the Lady Falcons
looked to please the near capacity Garvey Center. They would not let the home
crowd down, as the Falcons fought their way back from a 9- point deficit in the
second half to beat Kansas Wesleyan 63-62.
The Falcons were led by their leading scorer, junior point
guard Abby Fawcett, who was right above her season average of 17.8 points per
game with 18 points on Thursday. She was aided by sophomore center Jessika
Crews and her 10 points and the overall performance by sophomore guard Sarah
Munds who filled the stat sheet with 7 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
The Falcons entered halftime with a 32-28 lead.
But the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes would not be pushed around easily as
they out-rebounded the Falcons and kept them on their heels by hitting nearly
half of their 22 three point attempts that helped put the Coyotes up by 9 with
less than seven minutes to go.
A comeback gave the Falcons a late 61-60 lead, but following
a Falcon turnover, Kansas Wesleyan made a layup with six seconds remaining. After
a foul, the Falcons were left with 0.3 seconds to score. The ball was inbounded
to Fawcett who immediately threw up a shot underneath the basket but was
promptly fouled on the shot.
With everyone on their feet, Fawcett hit both free throws
and sent the crowd and her teammates into a frenzy as the final buzzer went
off.
The Falcons, who are ranked 17th in the
nation, will look to finish their more than impressive regular season Saturday
nights on the road against Sterling College (15-11).