Kentucky Wesleyan brought the Storm up to Lake Erie on Saturday afternoon, building up a 20-10 first quarter lead and cruising to a 65-46 win. Led by Cali Nolot’s 19, Wesleyan put four players in double figures in the 19 point win.
Kentucky Wesleyan now moves to 11-5 (8-2 G-MAC) while LEC drops to 1-16 (0-11 G-MAC).
Lake Erie hit a free throw 15 seconds in the game to take an early 1-0 lead, their only and last lead of the game. Capped off by two straight three pointers from Emma Johnson, Wesleyan went on an 18-0 run to take an 18-1 lead five minutes into the game. Corina Conley put in a layup with just a few seconds left in the quarter and the Panthers led 20-10 after one.
Holding a mere six point lead a few minutes into the second quarter, Wesleyan turned it up, using a Nolot three to spark a quick 10-2 run to lead it 30-16 at the 3:50 mark of the second quarter. Just like in the first quarter, Conley hit a layup with a mere two seconds left in the half to give Wesleyan a 32-23 lead heading into the locker room.
Jordyn Barga and Nolot combined to score all of Wesleyan’s 13 points in the third quarter, with Nolot hitting a layup with six seconds left in the frame to go up 45-39 after three.
Up just five with 7:29 left in the game, KWC used their exceptional defense to hold LEC to just two points for the rest of the game. Tahlia Walton scored all nine of her points in the quarter and Shiya Hoosier hit a dagger three with 1:55 left to put the game away.
Nolot led the way with 19 points, followed by Conley with 12 and Barga and Johnson with 11. Walton tallied seven rebounds while Nolot added four helpers.
Wesleyan shot 25-60 (41.7%) for the game and 8-18 (44.4%) from three. They held Lake Erie to just 17-49 (34.7%) from the field and 3-13 (23.1%) from behind the arc. Wesleyan forced the Storm into 18 turnovers, while only committing nine of their own.
The Panthers head to Finlay, Ohio next Thursday for a big G-MAC matchup with the Oilers. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.
