MONTGOMERY, Ala. –The No. 21 Bethel Lady Wildcats opened SSAC action Thursday night in Montgomery, Alabama facing the Faulkner Eagles. The Lady Wildcats improved to 8-2 with a 65-52 victory. Faulkner fell to 5-2 on the season. It was the ninth meeting between the two programs with Bethel now holding an 8-1 lead in the series. Bethel is 77-15 all-time in SSAC match-ups.
Bethel trailed 6-0 early and then outscored Faulkner 32-13 to lead at the half 32-19. Faulkner fought back in the third quarter but Bethel found their stride to stave off the upset minded Eagles.
Tyasia Willis led Bethel with a career high 20 points. She also had nine rebounds in the game. Myah Taylor had 17 points while Morgan Martin grabbed a game high 10 boards. Freshman Jayden Green had a career high nine points hitting some clutch shots for the Lady Wildcats.
Bethel shot 31 percent from the floor while Faulkner shot 29 percent from the field. Bethel hit eight three's while the Eagles were just 3-of-28 from behind the arc. Both squads struggled from the free throw line. Bethel was 19-of-32 while Faulkner was 13-of-24. The Lady Cats had a 48-36 advantage on the boards.
Bethel's bench outscored the Faulkner reserves 28-6.
Coach Chris Nelson was pleased to win the conference opener. "It was good to start conference action with a win and especially on the road versus a quality opponent. I thought we played ugly at times but did the little things that allowed us to keep the lead. We built a first half lead and let it slip away in the third and also allowed the crowd to get back in the game. We didn't call a timeout because we wanted to see how our players would respond and maintain their composure. Ty (Willis) gave us the spark we needed off the bench and played tremendous on both ends of the floor and Jayden (Green) stepped up and made some big shots when they sagged and covered Myah (Taylor) and Morgan (Martin)".
Bethel remains on the road traveling to Middle Georgia State Saturday with tip-off slated for 11 a.m. CST. It will be the seventh meeting between the two programs with Bethel holding a 6-0 advantage in the series. The Lady Wildcats are 4-0 in Cochran.
There will be no local radio for the game but live stats will be available at: http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/WebcastPlayByPlay/WebcastPBP.aspx?association=10&sg=WBB&compID=227090&sea=NAIWBB_2018
Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp99XD9KMn4
