HATTIESBURG, MS –The Bethel Lady Wildcats opened up Southern States Athletic Conference play with a road game in Hattiesburg against the William Carey Crusaders Thursday night. The Lady Wildcats continued their dominance over WCU with a 77-53 win. The Lady Wildcats are 7-0 in the series and 4-0 in Hattiesburg. Bethel moved to 4-4 overall while William Carey fell to 1-3 and 0-1.
Shamon Pearson scored the game's first seven points to give Bethel a 7-0 lead. Behind a three-pointer by Mariah McKenty and five points by Cayla Sheets Bethel raced out to a 15-6 advantage. Abbey Dew's bucket and four more points by Pearson made it 21 -10 after the first quarter. The Lady Wildcats extended the lead at the half to 20 leading 39-19 at the break. Pearson finished the half with 18 points.
After a sluggish first few minutes in the third quarter the Lady Wildcats found their groove again behind the scoring of Dew and led 60-33 at the end of the quarter. Dew scored 10 in the quarter.
The Lady Cats maintained complete control of the game in the final stanza and won 77-53. Pearson finished with a game high 20 points. Dew added 12 while Mariah McKenty followed with nine on three three-pointers. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Cayla Sheets had eight points and a game high seven assists. Madison Steppee had 13 points and tied McKenty with seven boards. She hit four of her five shots from the field and was 5-of-5 from the foul line.
Bethel shot 48 percent from the floor hitting 28-of-58 shots. They hit nine three's and were 12-of-15 from the foul line. WCU shot 38 percent from the floor. The Lady Crusaders hit 11-of -12 free throws. Bethel had a 36-26 advantage in points in the paint.
The Lady Cats are 49 -8 all-time in SSAC regular season play.
Coach Chris Nelson was pleased with the effort and win. "We got off to a good start tonight on the road and that set the tone for our team. Shamon was great right out of the gate and she is starting to really catch her rhythm. Mariah got going on offense tonight and that gave us more balance. Overall it was a true team effort and we received quality minutes from everyone. It was a good start to conference play and our team needed this win."
Bethel remains on the road Saturday afternoon for another early season conference match-up traveling to Blue Mountain to face the Lady Toppers.
Fans can listen and follow the game on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com.
http://streamdb6web.securenetsystems.net/v5/WEIO
http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins at 1:30 p.m. with tip-off at 2 p.m.
