Salina, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons outscored the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes 30-7 in the fourth quarter to turn a tie game into a comfortable 84-61 victory in the KCAC opening game for both teams tonight (Nov. 15) in Salina, Kan.

Tied 54-54 heading into the final stanza, two threes by Trinity Johnson and five points from Rayland Garner powered a 15-0 burst as the Falcons held the Coyotes scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the period.

The Falcons continued to surge and iced the victory with a pair of treys from Kori Babcock along with a three by Jadyn Glasgow and a bucket inside by Lauryn McIver for an 82-59 lead with just 1:57 to play.

"Always good to get a road win to start conference play," said Friends women's basketball head coach Dean Jaderston. "It was great to see our team start coming together. We had to weather some great shooting by KWU to start the game, but battled back. Our guard play got better and better as the game progressed that opened the floor for everyone. It's also nice to get some balanced scoring with four players in double digits!"

As Jaderston noted, the Falcons had to survive an early onslaught when the Coyotes jumped out to a 15-4 lead at the 6:43 mark of the first quarter.

Glasgow helped the Falcons chip away with five straight points to finish a 10-2 spurt that trimmed the KWU lead to just three points.

It was a 19-16 deficit at the end of the first quarter, but the Falcons carried over their late momentum and scored the first five points to take their first lead of the game on a three by Ellie Munds.

After the Coyotes used a 10-0 run to take another double-figure lead, it was again Glasgow getting things going with a score inside to ignite an 8-0 push to cut the KWU lead down to two points.

That was the deficit at the break, with the Coyotes leading 39-37 at the half.

The third quarter followed a similar patter as the opening two stanzas, as the Coyotes pulled out to a six-point lead, only to have the Falcons get four points each from Taylor Jackson and Garner to take a 51-49 lead and keep things close to set the stage for the fourth quarter breakthrough.

Garner, this week's top KCAC offensive player, had another solid game with game-high totals of 24 points and four assists. Jackson powered the Falcons (3-1, 1-0 KCAC) with a strong double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Babcock and Glasgow each scored 10. Natia Hagan also dished out four assists for the Falcons.

LaMyah Ricks paced the Coyotes (2-5, 0-1 KCAC) with 16 points and five boards, with Jill Stephens and Odessa Ozuna each chipping in with 12 points.

It was a tale of two halves shooting the basketball, as the Falcons cooled the Coyotes off to just a 22.2 percent (8-of-36) clip in the second half following a 48.4 field-goal percentage (15-of-31) in the opening half. Meanwhile, the Falcons warmed up to shoot 57.1 percent (20-of-35) after halftime on the heels of shooting just 38.7 percent (12-of-31) in the first half.

Friends also controlled the interior with a 48-31 rebounding edge and outscoring KWU by a whopping 42-10 in the paint and 17-10 in second chance points.

The Falcons will now host McPherson College for their home conference opener Saturday evening (Nov. 18) at 5 pm inside the Garvey Center.

Purchase tickets to see the Falcons vs. the Bulldogs in the first KCAC game of the season inside the Garvey Center Saturday night!