MCKENZIE, Tenn. –The Bethel Lady Wildcats saw their unbeaten SSAC home winning streak snapped at 29 with a heartbreaking 64-62 loss to Martin Methodist Thursday night in Crisp Arena. The Lady Cats had never lost to a SSAC opponent in the building. The Lady Wildcats dropped to 10-7 overall and 6-1 in the conference. MMC improved to 12-5 and 6-1 in the league. Bethel had won four games in a row. The victory was MMC's fifth straight. It was MMC's first win ever in McKenzie.
The Lady RedHawks led by as many as ten in the first half with a 25-15 advantage at the 7:15 mark of the second quarter. Bethel trailed at the half 35-29. MMC took their biggest lead late in the third quarter at 50-38. The Lady Wildcats closed to within 50-43 at the end of the stanza. The Lady Cats maintained that momentum and took a 53-50 lead on a Mariah McKenty three-pointer. The basket capped off a 15-0 run by Bethel. A few moments later MMC's Mickey Head tied the game at 53. Morgan Martin gave Bethel another three point lead with a three. MMC fought back and took a 60-56 lead with just under two minutes left. Bethel would not go quietly and fought back to within 62-59 with seconds left. It was Martin again who stepped up big with a three-pointer with 11.9 seconds left. With the game tied at 62 Lady RedHawk Coach Kyle Bent called a time-out to set up a final shot for MMC. Terirra Luckett broke the hearts of the Bethel faithful with a jumper at the buzzer to give the Hawks the dramatic win.
Bethel struggled at times from the floor hitting just 20-of-59 shots from the floor at 33 percent. MMC shot 42 percent connecting on 25-of-59 from the field. Bethel was 10-0 entering the game when outshooting their opponents. MMC won the battle of the boards at 36-31. Second chance points played a role in the game with MMC having 13-2 advantage. The Lady RedHawks committed 18 turnovers with Bethel having a 12-5 in points off turnovers margin.
The Lady Wildcats left points on the floor hitting just 14-of- 22 free throw attempts. MMC had nine three's while Bethel had eight in the contest.
Martin led Bethel with 18 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds. Shamon Pearson, Jasmine Whittemore and Brandi Goodman had ten points each. Head led Martin Methodist with 13 points. Kyoko Wade, the nation's fourth leading rebounder had a game high 16 rebounds and 12 points.
Bethel Coach Chris Nelson said, "I'm proud of our comeback. Our kids never quit and had a chance to win but credit Kyle and his squad. They hurt us on the boards and did a good job defending our shooters. He does a good job with his squad and we knew going in we would have to play well. I though Morgan was really good tonight. Mariah hit a big shot and I though at that point we were in pretty good shape but we it just wasn't to be." He added, "Luckett has hurt before and she did a good job with the last shot. We have to regroup and get ready for a really talented Loyola team. We will go over things tomorrow and be ready."
The Lady Wildcats are back home Saturday for more SSAC action. They host No. 20 Loyola University at 2 p.m. They also host Mobile Monday night at 5:30 p.m.
The games will be aired on WEIO, 100.9 and at http://thefarmradio.com/listenlive/. Fans can also watch the games on Wildcat Vision at: http://www.bethelathletics.com/f/WildcatVision.php
Dave McCulley and Zach O'Kelley call the action on both entities.
Follow live stats at: http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
