MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The No. 18 Bethel Lady Wildcats continued their home conference mastery with a 91-49 win over visiting Coastal Georgia Thursday night in McKenzie. The 91 points was a season high for the Lady Wildcats. The Lady Cats are 28-0 against SSAC foes in the building. They are 69- 8 overall in the arena.
The Lady Wildcats led 25-15 after the first quarter and behind 16 second quarter points from Brandi Goodman extended their lead to 52-32 at the half. Bethel outscored the visitors 19-5 in the third and had the game in hand at 71-37 at the end of the third stanza.
Goodman had a career high 23 points while Morgan Martin finished the game with a career high 22 points. Two other Lady Cats finished in double figures with Shamon Pearson adding 11 points and Jasmine Whittemore popping in 10 tallies. Kaci Palo led the Lady Mariners with 15 points while Ashlee Francis added 14 points.
Bethel shot 51 percent from the floor hitting 38-of -74 shots. The Lady Cats hit nine three-pointers on the night. They had a decisive advantage on the boards at 47-27. Mariah McKenty led the Lady Cats in rebounding with 10 boards.
CG was 17-of-57 from the floor at 29 percent. They knocked down six three's.
The Lady Wildcats has a 39-6 advantage in bench points. Bethel had a 59-23 advantage in points in the paint.
Bethel improved to 7-6 overall and 3-0 in the SSAC. Coastal fell to 4-8 and 1-2.
Coach Chris Nelson was pleased with the win and his squad's effort. "This evening was really good for our basketball team. First is was super special for our senior point guard Cayla Sheets to start the evening on her engagement to an service young man and Bethel Alumni Jensen Youngblood . Our family, basketball team and fans could not be prouder for them."
He added, "As far as the game we really shared the ball and looked good offensively. We could brush some details up on defense but our overall effort was great. Brandi produced in big fashion tonight and Morgan is starting to hit her stride. Mariah filled the stat sheet up and led us in rebounds yet again. Our team has numerous weapons and is very unselfish and understands it could be someone different every night."
Bethel returns to action hosting Saturday hosting Brewton-Parker at 2 p.m. The game will be aired on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com. The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins at 1:30 p.m. Fans can also view the game on Wildcat Vision at www.bethelathletics.com on the Wildcat Vision link. Dave McCulley and Zach O'Kelley call the action on both entities.
