MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The No. 15 Bethel Lady Wildcats stepped out of league play hosting the Oakwood Ambassadors Tuesday night in Crisp Arena.
The Lady Cats won their seventh in a row with an 80-37 win over the visitors from Alabama. With the victory Bethel moved to 15-4 overall. Oakwood fell to 2-14. It was the first of four straight home games for Bethel. The Lady Cats are 9-0 at home on the season and 116-15 all-time in the building.
Both teams struggled in the first quarter going a combined 0-18 in three-point attempts. The Lady Wildcats led at the end of the quarter 13-5. The second quarter was a different matter as Jani Crawford hit two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the second quarter and that seemed to jump start the Bethel offense as they outscored Oakwood 25-8 in the quarter and led 38-13 at halftime. Bethel scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to lead 49-13 and take full control of the game. A 22-9 third quarter margin gave Bethel a 60-22 margin entering the final stanza.
Twelve different Lady Wildcats would score in the game. Morgan Martin led Bethel with 12 points, hitting four three's which gives her 227 in her career. She trails Katie Van Dyke by only 14 for the all-time career mark. Her 12 points also tied her with former Bethel great Teena Carter with 1, 235 career points at 9th place on the all-time scoring list at the school. Ty Willis and Crawford both finished with 10 tallies each. Willis also pulled down seven rebounds giving her 404 career boards.
The Wildcats would finish with 11 three's on the night. The Cats dominated in every category. They had a 56-13 margin in points off the bench. They had 41-18 advantage in points in the paint. They enjoyed a 25-9 margin in points off turnovers and a 17-4 advantage in second chance points.
Coach Chris Nelson said, "We had a rare non- conference game for this time of year but it was due to us having a long break in between conference games. Tonight was good for us to utilize our bench and for us to have players step in and play that have been working hard to earn those minutes. Our team has been playing well but we can't grow weary in our work and we must stay locked in."
The Lady Cats entered the game giving up 56.9 which was 11th in the nation in scoring defense. The game marked the fifth time on the season Bethel has held an opponent under 50 points in a game.
Bethel is back in action Saturday hosting conference foe Brewton-Parker at noon.
Due to a scheduled remote broadcast the women's game will not be on local radio. Live video and live stats will be available. The men's game will be aired at 2 p.m. on WEIO, 100.9 and, www.thefarmradio.com.
Live video:
http://www.bethelathletics.com/f/WildcatVision.php
Live stats:
http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
