GEORGETOWN, KY – After two tough road losses the No. 24 Bethel Lady Wildcats needed a win to close out their road trip but it wasn't to be as they dropped another heartbreaker, falling 66-64 at Georgetown Monday afternoon.
Bethel dropped to 8-7 overall and 3-5 in the MSC. Georgetown snapped a six game losing streak and improved to 2-6 and 1-5.
The Lady Wildcats trailed 27-13 with five minutes left in the second quarter but rallied and cut the deficit to 28-25 at the half.
Bethel began the third quarter on a scoring surge and led 48-42 with a minute left in the quarter. GC cut the Bethel lead to 45-44 at the end of three.
The fourth quarter was a wild ten minutes. Each team would take a narrow lead only to see the other tie or surge ahead. Many of the 11 game ties and 11 lead changes took place in the final quarter. Georgetown's Grace White who had a career high 30 points had three vital Tiger points in the closing seconds which enabled the Tigers to win. GC's Madison Darnell finished with 10 points.
Mickey Head led the Wildcats with 21 points with 14 of those coming in the second half. Head had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Jani Crawford had 15 points on the day. Anya Patterson came off the Bethel bench and had 10 points.
Bethel shot 34 percent hitting 17-of-50 shots from the floor. The Cats had seven three-pointers and finished 23-of-30 from the free throw line. Bethel had a 34-33 advantage in rebounds. Three Bethel starters fouled out in a game where a total of 56 fouls were called. Head, Crawford and Millie Bryant all fouled out.
The Tigers shot 40 percent at 19-of-47 from the floor. GC hit just three three-pointers but were 25-of-36 from the free throw line.
Coach Chris Nelson commented, "We have to figure out ways to finish games and finish games on the road. It starts on the defensive end and getting stops at big moments in the game. Our team is fighting and making plays on the offensive end but making critical mistakes at inopportune times in the game. We were plagued with foul trouble the entire game and that something we had to work through but it caught up to us late in the game."
The Lady Wildcats return home for six straight home games. Five of those games will be against top twenty ranked teams and three and will come versus top ten ranked squads.
The Lady Cats host No. 7 Shawnee State Thursday night in Crisp Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Live video:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/f/WildcatVision.php
Live stats:
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Live audio:
https://www.thefarmradio.com/
