NEW ORLEANS, La. - The two women's programs which have been two of the more dominate members of the SSAC met Thursday night in The Den in New Orleans. The No. 16 Bethel Lady Wildcats and the No. 24 Loyola Wolf Pack clashed for the 16th time.
Two second half runs by the home team proved to be the difference in the game.
Bethel had their three game winning streak snapped with a 61-49 loss to the Pack. The Lady Cats fell to 5-2 while Loyola remained unbeaten at 4-0. It was the conference opener for both squads.
Bethel leads the series 9-7 and is 4-4 in the Crescent City.
Bethel led 31-24 at the half and appeared to be in position to win after Mickey Head knocked down a three pointer with 6:11 left in the third quarter. The basket gave Bethel a 41-31 lead. LU score eight straight and pulled to within two at 41-39. The Lady Cats would lead 43-39 at the end of three.
After Loyola tied the game at 45-45 with 8: 28 left in the fourth, Bethel's Ge' Naisha Robinson put the Lady Cats up 47-45 with 8:02 remaining. Loyola scored 12 unanswered points to lead 57-47 with three minutes left and went on to win by twelve. LU outscore Bethel 22-6 in the fourth quarter.
Bethel shot 28 percent hitting just 18-of-64 shots from the floor. They hit five of 28 attempts from three-point range. Loyola was 22-of-58 at 38 percent. They were 8-of-23 in three's. Loyola's had a 22-6 advantage in bench points. Bethel had a 44-39 advantage in rebounds.
Millie Bryant led Bethel with 14 points. Tasia Jones had 12 on the night. Tyasia Willis had nine points and a game high 14 rebounds. Head had eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kaila Anthony led Loyola with 19 points.
Coach Chris Nelson said he team has to be tougher." We simply gave one away tonight in the fourth quarter. Credit Loyola for making adjustments and keeping us out of any flow on the offensive end. I am extremely disappointed with our toughness. When the game got hard, we didn't play with the pride our program normally has." He added, "We are not getting a lot of production from our guard play and it makes it hard for us to have consistent scoring. We did a solid job on the glass and in getting stops for two and half quarters but in the end we did not do those things well in the latter part of the game. We had a chance to stretch our lead to 13-16 points but did not and LU grabbed the momentum. Simply put, we have to be a tougher basketball team."
Bethel remains on the road traveling to Hattiesburg to meet William Carey Saturday at noon. The Lady Cats lead the series between the two at 12-0.
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