TALLADEGA, Ala. –The No. 14 Bethel Lady Wildcats dropped their first game of the season falling 72-68 at No.19 Talladega Friday night.
Bethel fell to 2-1 while the Tornadoes moved to 3-0 on the year. The victory by Talladega evened the series at two each.
The two teams were tied at 19 at the end of one. Talladega led 35-33 at the break. The Tornadoes led much of the second half and opened up to as much as a 13- point lead in the fourth before a courageous Lady Cat comeback in the final quarter failed just short. Bethel had a three-pointer late which would have given them the lead but after the miss the home team prevailed to win by four.
The teams combined for a total of 45 turnovers and 46 total fouls in the game. Bethel had five players finish with three or more fouls. Bethel was 18-of-22 from the free throw line while Talladega was 28-of-39 from the charity stripe. Bethel shot 39 percent from the floor while the Tornadoes shot 37 percent from the field. The Lady Cats hit six of 19 tries in three-point attempts while the home team was just 4-of -20 from behind the arc. Bethel outrebounded Talladega 38-36.
Mickey Head and Jani Crawford led Bethel with 16 points each. Head also had six rebounds and six assists. Ever Walker followed with 12 points while Tasia Jones finished with 10 tallies. Ashton Hulme had a team high eight rebounds.
Talladega's Tyeisha Juhan led all scorers with 21 points
Coach Chris Nelson spoke about the loss. "We took a tough road loss tonight but it was not from lack of effort. This game was a legit top 25 match- up and we missed on some opportunities to grab the road victory. We had a hard time keeping Talladega off the free throw line but did a good job keeping them off the glass and cutting down on turnovers in the second half. This is the type of road test we needed and will learn from it. We will take a couple days off and get ready to jump into conference play next week.
The Lady Cats return to action Thursday night opening MSC playing host to Cumberland University. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.
Game Coverage:
The game can be heard on WEIO, 100.9 and at www.thefarmradio.com
Dave McCulley and Zach O'Kelley will have the call with the Countdown to Tip-off beginning at 5 p.m. CST.
Live radio: https://www.thefarmradio.com/
Live video: http://www.bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
Live stats: http://www.dakstats.com/websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
