Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

Kentucky Wesleyan College won its fifth straight women's basketball game, beating the University of Southern Indiana 81-69 on senior night Monday at the Sportscenter.

The Panthers got a team-high 18 points from Kristen Rowe, who was 7-of-14 from the floor.

"The girls played as a team and were very unselfish," said Caleb Nieman, who is KWC's co-head coach along with his wife, Nicole Nieman. "They really bought into playing tough defensively the whole game."

KWC's sharing was demonstrated with 20 assists on 30 made field goals. The assist total helped offset 26 turnovers for the Panthers.

Karly Rhoads scored 12 points off the bench, and Katie Behrens and Lauren Goffinet each scored 10 for the Panthers (16-8, 10-7).

KWC shot very well from the floor, hitting 30-of-56 shots (53.6 percent), including 8-of-24 3-point attempts. The Panthers were 13-of-20 from the free-throw line.

"When we've played well, it's kind of been the same equation, unselfish offensively and tough defense," Caleb Nieman said.

A big plus for KWC was bench scoring. KWC's reserves outscored USI's bench, 31-10.

"Our bench is usually deeper than anybody else we play," Caleb Nieman said.

USI (15-9, 11-5) was led by Courtney Perry's 23 points and Amie Newhart's 21. USI made 23-of-63 shots from the floor (36.5 percent). It was 6-of-15 from 3-point range (40 percent) and 17-of-22 from the free-throw line (77.3 percent).

"We were really confident believing we could win," Caleb Nieman said.

The Panthers travel to Bellarmine for the regular-season finale on Saturday.