MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Lady Wildcats were undefeated on the season at 7-0 when scoring 70 or more points entering their meeting at home Saturday afternoon against Martin Methodist at Crisp Arena. That streak was snapped as Bethel fell losing a heartbreaker 77-75 to the RedHawks.
No. 16 Bethel dropped to 10-3 and 2-1 in the SSAC. MMC moved to 8-4 and 2-1 in the league.
There were nine ties and nine lead changes in the game. Neither team led by more than six points in the affair. After a 12-12 tie at the end of one, Martin Methodist led at the half 32-30. Bethel seized a 56-53 lead at the end of the third quarter but MMC outscored the Lady Cats 24-19 in the fourth to grab the two point win. Bethel is 44-3 all-time in Crisp against SSAC foes with all three losses being to Martin Methodist.
MMC shot 43 percent from the floor connecting on 27-of-62 attempts from the field. They hit nine three pointers while Bethel hit seven three's. Bethel was 26-of-38 from the foul line while the Hawks were 14-of-16. Bethel has a slight edge in rebounding with a 33-30 margin.
Turnovers plagued both squads as they combined 43 on the day. MMC had 22 while Bethel had 21 miscues in the game. MMC capitalized however with a 24-16 margin in points off turnovers.
Dyersburg native Faith Sherrow came off the bench to spark MMC with a game high 20 points. Marcia Reed had 18 points and a game high nine rebounds for the Hawks. Brooklyn Blanchard followed with 16 points.
Morgan Martin led Bethel with 19 points. Bethel's leading rebounder on the season also has seven rebounds. Myah Taylor had 15 tallies while Madison Steppee scored 13 on the day. Tyasia Willis finished with 11 points. Taylor led BU in rebounding with eight. She also had a game high seven assists.
Coach Chris Nelson said turnovers and missed free throws were two big keys. "We just had too many turnovers and we missed some critical free throw down the stretch and in the end we could not overcome those factors. We are still a work in process of handling adversity. I think we will eventually overcome that and we will have to if we want to reach our goals. We will take some time off during the holidays and get back to work after Christmas and start the New Year on the road with key SSAC games." He concluded, "We wish all our fans a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We also thank them for their great support.
The two squads meet again in Pulaski on February 9.
Bethel returns to action January 3 at Florida College and January 5 at Brewton-Parker. Their next home game is January 10 hosting arch-rival Loyola.
