Kelcey Hinz (SR/Whitewater, Kan.) permanently etched her name into the Kansas Wesleyan record book – again.
Hinz became KWU’s all-time rebounds leader when she pulled down her eighth rebound of the game during the second quarter of Thursday night’s 72-38 rout of the York College Panthers inside Mabee Arena.
Hinz passed Stephanie Frost who had 832 rebounds in four years with the Coyotes from 2009 to 2013. Hinz accomplished the feat in two and a half seasons for the Coyotes. She finished the night with 11 rebounds, giving her 836 during her time at KWU.
“It feels pretty awesome,” Hinz said about getting the record. “It’s just everything back from my first day here and first day playing with this team. They make it so much sweeter.”
Wesleyan head coach Ryan Showman was so excited to have Hinz set the record.
“Kelcey’s such a special kid, such a special player. I really can’t put into words right now what she means to our program,” he said. “She’s made me a better coach, made me a better leader, and she’s just been absolutely incredible for us. I am so proud of her. She got the career blocks record earlier in the season and to get the career rebounds record tonight it just shows the type of competitor that she is.”
Showman was also pleased with his team’s efforts in ending a 2-game losing streak and getting his starters some much needed rest in the brutal early stretch of five games in 11 days to start 2022.
“Just to get back and play well, and win, and feel really great about things. We played everybody. That’s exactly what we needed in this moment right now,” he said. “A lot of people stepped up, and with all these games and another quick turnaround on Saturday, it was important to hold our starters to only 22 or 23 minutes, that’s what we needed today.”
No starter played over 23 minutes in the game for the Coyotes as all 15 players in uniform saw at least two minutes on the court in the game.
It took a few minutes for the Coyote offense to get going. After scoring the first point of the game just 15 seconds in, it took over a minute for the Coyotes to score again as Caila Hill (JR/Rossville, Kan.) netted Wesleyan’s first three points.
Amanda Hill (SR/Rossville, Kan.) scored next as she continues her pursuit of the KWU career scoring record that has stood since 1985 of 1568 points. She had 1526 points after scoring 14 tonight, just 42 off the record held by KWU Hall of Famer Joedy Zimmerman.
Free throws by Hinz put the Coyotes up by a touchdown with 6:13 to go in the first. After York scored, the Coyotes pushed the lead out to double digits for the first time at 15-4 on Tylieea Wallace (FR/Overland Park, Kan.)’s bucket with 2:39 left in the first and the Coyotes held a 19-8 lead after a quarter.
The second quarter was all Coyotes, as KWU outscored the Panthers 23-6 in the quarter and led 42-14 at the half. KWU led 41-9 at one point in the quarter on a bucket by Angel Roman (FR/Jacksonville, Fla.) who finished with a career high 12 points tonight.
York cut the difference to 20 points at 48-28 halfway through the third quarter, but Roman’s bucket to end the third gave Wesleyan a 55-30 lead.
Megan Foote (FR/Louisburg, Kan.)’s free throws with a minute left gave Wesleyan its biggest lead of the night at 34 points at 72-38.
Showman was pleased with the play of his reserves down the stretch.
“When we went up to York, we subbed in the fourth quarter and they cut a 30-point lead to 16 really quick,” he said. “Tonight’s game shows the growth of our team and our bench play tonight as we actually grew our lead late. For me as a head coach that’s what I enjoyed seeing.”
Amanda Hill‘s 14 led all scorers in the game, while Roman added 12 as KWU shot 41.5 percent from the field in the game. Hinz filled the stat sheet as well with eight points, seven blocks and three steals helping the Coyotes to the win. KWU outrebounded York 46-34.
York shot just 12 percent from the field in the first half, but bounced back to shoot 35.7 percent in the second half and 24.5 percent for the game. Kiara Pesina had 12 for the Panthers.
The Coyotes close out a stretch of five games in 11 days to start the second half of the season on Saturday at McPherson. Tip-off is 5 p.m. inside the Sport Center. The Coyotes then get four days of much needed rest before welcoming Oklahoma Wesleyan to Mabee Arena on January 19.
