HATTIESBURG, MS – The Bethel Lady Wildcats entered play Saturday at William Carey having never lost to a Lady Crusader team. It was not easy but that streak remained intact as Bethel beat WCU 56-54. The Lady Wildcats moved to 9-0 all-time against the Crusaders. On the season Bethel improved to 11-6 and 3-1 in the SSAC. It was Bethel's fifth consecutive win. WCU fell to 4-7 and 3-3.
The Lady Wildcats jumped out to lead 11-7 at the end of the first quarter despite hitting just 5-of -20 shots from the field. WCU meanwhile struggled from the foul line. The Crusaders hit just 3-of-14 free throw attempts in the quarter.
Two early three-pointers by Shamon Pearson and a long three by Millie Bryant gave Bethel a 22-11 lead in the second quarter but William Carey outscored Bethel 15-3 to close out the stanza to lead 26-25 at the break.
WCU scored eight unanswered points at one point to grab a 38-30 lead in the third. The Lady Cats closed the deficit to 41-38 at the end of the quarter.
The Lady Wildcats took their first lead of the second half on a basket by Bri Fields with seven minutes left in the game. A torrid scoring run by Pearson and Whittemore capped off a 12-0 Bethel run and the Cats grabbed a six point lead at one point. WCU would not go away however and stayed close. A long Crusader shot at the buzzer fell off the rim and Bethel held on for the crucial road win.
Pearson finished with 20 points to lead all scorers. She moved into seventh place all-time on Bethel's career scoring list with 1,311 career points. She moved past former Bethel great Kelli Rich. At one point of the final quarter Pearson scored nine straight Bethel points. Whittemore knocked down three three-pointers. Two of those came in the Bethel second half comeback. She moved past former Bethel great Anna Trull with 136 career three's placing her 10th in Bethel history. Laurhen Pickett grabbed a team high 11 rebounds. Madison Steppee pulled down 10 boards. Fields finished with eight points and four assists. Tamia Stinson led WCU with 16 points.
Bethel shot 31 percent from the field hitting 20-of-64 shots. They had a 47-36 rebound advantage. WCU shot 40 percent connecting on 20-of -49 shots from the floor.
Coach Chris Nelson commented on the victory. "We are very proud to get out of Hattiesburg with a conference win. We tip our hats to William Carey because they gave us all we wanted and are a much improved ball club. We got off to a good start and was up 22-11 before got into foul trouble and had to sit Shamon and Laurhen the majority of the second quarter. We were already a man down with Morgan (Martin) not being in the lineup. We had some players step up and play some big minutes. In the second half Jasmine came through with some clutch shots. I thought Bri was terrific all night for us and logged the most minutes she played all year. Shamon stepped up huge in the fourth and got us out out of the scoring drought and allowed us to get a rhythm." He added, "We are very proud of our mindset to handle adversity on the road and get big stops on the defensive end that allowed us to find a way to come out with the victory."
Morgan and Natalie Martin missed the game due to the passing of their grandfather.
The Lady Wildcats return home to face Mobile Thursday night at Crisp Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., catch the action on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com. Live video will also be available at: http://www.bethelathletics.com/f/WildcatVision.php
