MCKENZIE, Tenn. –The No. 21 Bethel Lady Wildcats celebrated their 100th game in Crisp Arena with a convincing 72-39 victory over William Carey Saturday afternoon in McKenzie. Bethel outscored WCU 22-6 in the second quarter to pull away for a 36-17 advantage at the break. Bethel is 88-12 in the building and 40-1 against SSAC opponents in Crisp. They are 10-0 all-time against the Lady Crusaders.
Bethel cruised in the second half and led by as many as 43 late in the game.
WCU had no answer for Bethel inside as the Lady Cats had a 38-16 advantage in points in the paint. The Lady Cat bench outscored the Crusader reserves 28-13. Bethel was 27-of -61 from the floor at 44 percent. They knocked down 10 three-pointers and had a 32-24 rebound margin. They held WCU to just four offensive rebounds in the game.
Bethel's field goal defense is ninth in the nation and they again were stingy holding WCU to just 26 percent from the floor. The Crusaders hit just 14 -of -53 attempts from the floor. They hit just five -of -26 three-point attempts.
Four Lady Wildcats finished in double figures. Bethel is 13-1 when three or more score in double figures. Jasmine Whittemore led the attack with 12 points. Jani Crawford, Morgan Martin and Shamon Pearson scored 11 each. Pearson moved past former Bethel great Tayla Foster for fifth on Bethel's career scoring list. She has 1, 372 career points.
Shantavis Hughes led WCU with eight points.
The Lady Wildcats moved to 16-7 overall and 8-2 in the league. WCU fell to 6-11 and 5-7.
Coach Chris Nelson said, "We are very pleased with the effort our ladies gave on both ends of the floor. I thought we shared he ball well offensively that turned into easy buckets. Defensively I thought we were engaged and talked the entire time. It was good to be back home and have the crowd and environment we had. We have a big challenge ahead next week and our team is excited about it."
Bethel returns to action with road games at Mobile Thursday and Saturday in New Orleans at Loyola.
