MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The No.16 Bethel Lady Wildcats played host to the Faulkner Lady Eagles Thursday night in Crisp Arena. It was the first of five straight home games for the Lady Cats.
Bethel moved to 18 -3 overall and 10 -1 in the SSAC with a 96-40 win over the Eagles. It was Bethel's eighth straight win. The Lady Cats are 9-1 at home and 9- 1 on the road. They are 1-1 in neutral site games. Bethel is 101-14 all-time in Crisp Arena. They are 45-3 against SSAC foes in the arena. Bethel is 79-15 all-time versus SSAC opponents.
Faulkner dropped to 11-9 and 4-6. Bethel defeated Faulkner 65-52 earlier in the year in Montgomery.
It was the 10th meeting between the two programs with Bethel now leading the series 9-1. The Lady Cats are 6-0 versus Faulkner in McKenzie.
Trailing 21-16 late in the first quarter, Bethel used a 9-0 run to close out the stanza and led 25-21 at the end of the first period. The Lady Cats outscored Faulkner 51-9 in quarters number two and three and led 76-30 at the end of three. Bethel shot 43 percent in the game while the Eagles hit just thirteen shots and finished at 23 percent in the contest.
Tasia Jones led Bethel with a career high 16 points. The freshman from Martin Westview also had four rebounds and four assists. The nation's leading scorer Myah Taylor scored 15 points while Tyasia Willis added 14 on the night. Freshman Ashton Hulme scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Taylor hit five three-pointers giving her a nation leading 90 on the season. Morgan Martin had eight points and seven rebounds. She had five assists giving her a team leading 59 on the year. Martin has scored 939 points in her career as a Lady Cat. The junior from Bradford is 61 points from becoming the 16th player in Lady Wildcat history to score 1,000 points or more.
Bethel hit 17 three's giving them a nation leading 206 on the season. The Cats had a 52-28 rebound advantage in the game. The Wildcats outrebound their opponents by almost 12 per game which is 2nd in the nation.
Bethel is 17-1 when they lead at halftime. They are 1-2 when trailing at the break. They are 16-2 when they out rebound their opponent. Bethel is 1-1 when losing the battle of the boards. They are 1-0 when tied in rebounding. The Lady Cats are 16-1 when they out shoot their foes. They are 2-2 when outshot. Bethel is 14-0 when they make more free throws in a game. They are 4-3 when the opponent makes more free throws and 12-1 when the opponent has more turnovers per game. The Lady Wildcats have hit at least one three-pointer in 413 straight games. The team has hit at least one three-pointer in every game Coach Chris Nelson has coached at Bethel. He is 278-135 and is in his 13th season with the Lady Wildcats.
Coach Nelson was pleased with the victory. "We played really well and I am pleased we were able to play a lot of people tonight. Faulkner is somewhat short -handed right now and Coach Sutton does a great job. Our balance is scoring was terrific and we did a lot of good things to win the way we did."
The Lady Wildcats remain at home hosting Middle Georgia State Saturday at 2 p.m. The Lady Cats are 7-0 versus MGS and have a 2-0 margin in games played in McKenzie. The Knights are 7-11 and 4-8 in the league.
Fans can listen to the action on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com. The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins at 1:30 p.m.
Live video:
http://www.bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
Live stats:
http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
Live audio:
https://www.thefarmradio.com/
WLJT-TV will also cover the game with replays scheduled for Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 11 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 26 at 10:00 p.m. / Sun., Jan. 27 at 11:00 p.m.
