OWENSBORO, KY – The Kentucky Wesleyan women's basketball team (2-0) took down familiar foe Trevecca Nazarene (1-3) 71-58 on Saturday afternoon. Shiya Hoosier led the way with a stat sheet-stuffing performance for the Panthers. The veteran guard finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
 
After today's win, the Panthers hold a 12-1 record over the Trojans at the Owensboro Sportscenter. Trevecca just recently departed from the G-MAC and are currently in their first season apart of the Gulf South Conference. Though they are no longer conference competitors, these two teams battled it out for 40 minutes.
 
Hoosier kicked off the game with a three-pointer less than a minute into the contest. Although, this would not be the case going forward, as the Panthers struggled behind the arc early. Wesleyan found themselves trailing the Trojans 14-11 at the end of the opening quarter.
 
Shooting struggles continued in the second quarter. At the four-minute mark, the Panthers were shooting 16% from three and were down six-points. Moments later, another triple from Hoosier brought Kentucky Wesleyan back to life. They went on a 12-2 run, including threes from Myah Montgomery and Ilani Williams-Harris, to end the half holding a 29-25 lead.
 
"We have players that can really shoot the ball, so we told them to just keep shooting," Co-Head Coach Caleb Nieman said. "Analytics tells us to keep shooting those threes, especially when you have confidence that your players can make them."
 
Wesleyan did just that, as Williams-Harris and Riley Neal each nailed triples of their own halfway through the third quarter. Vilborg Jonsdottir made a big impact, driving and finishing multiple tough buckets in the paint to give the Panthers a 46-43 advantage heading into the final quarter.
 
Yet the Trojans were not heading back to Nashville without a fight. Finding themselves down five points early in the fourth, Trevecca went on a quick 6-2 run to cut the lead to just one. Shortly after, consecutive buckets by Arielle Dabu sparked an offensive explosion for the home squad. In the final six minutes, Wesleyan outscored Trevecca 18-6, shooting 67% from the three-point line. Hoosier's six points in the last two minutes of the game helped seal the victory.
 
"We needed Shiya [Hoosier] to take more of a scoring role this year and she has totally embraced it," Wesleyan's coach said. "It has been awesome to see her blossom into that role. When you coach somebody as long as we have coached Shiya, it is really cool to see her take another step to that next level."
 
Montgomery had quite the performance of her own, finishing with 14 points (4/9 3PT). Neal was extremely efficient in just twelve minutes, tallying nine points while only missing one shot (3/4 FG, 1/1 3PT, 2/2 FT). Williams-Harris produced nine points, six assists, and three steals.
 
The Panthers will travel to St. Louis next Friday, November 22^nd to take on Missouri-St. Louis at 5 p.m. After two home wins, Wesleyan will look to expand their impressive start on the road.
 
"These [first two games] have been great opportunities for us to get some early fourth-quarter games with a young team," Coach Caleb Nieman explained. "To see them respond really well with levelheadedness and composure, especially with players that have not played together, it has been encouraging."
 
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