MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Lady Wildcats enter postseason action hosting the Georgetown Lady Tigers Monday night in Crisp Arena. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two this season with the Lady Tigers edging Bethel 66-64 in the Commonwealth back on January 11. The other regular season game between the two scheduled in McKenzie was not played due to Covid-19 protocols.
Bethel is 11-12 overall and finished 6-10 in the league. The Cats are the 7th seed in the MSC Championships while the Tigers are the 10th seed. Bethel had their last four games cancelled due to weather issues. Georgetown finished the regular campaign at 3-12 and 2-11. The Tigers had their last two games cancelled. They had lost six in a row prior to the cancellations.
Bethel is 8-6 at home on the season. The six losses are the most ever suffered in one season by a Lady Wildcat squad since moving into Crisp in 2012-2013. The Lady Cats are 127-21 all-time in the building.
In the earlier match-up, 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.
Head who recently hit the 1,000 point plateau leads the Lady Cats in scoring averaging 13.1 points per game. Head also leads the team in assists (49) and blocks (55). Her 55 blocks are second the MSC and is 8th in the nation. She also leads the team in rebounding at eight per game. She had 482 points at Martin Methodist and has scored 553 points as a Lady Wildcat. Crawford is second in scoring with a 12.0 average. Bryant leads the squad in made three's with 42 and averages 11.3 points per game. Bryant's 143 career three-pointers is 13th in school history. The Dresden senior, along with Ever Walker lead the team in steals with 23. Walker averages 10.6 points per outing.
The Cats average 67.2 and yield 65.5 points per game.
Georgetown is led in scoring by White who averages 11.0 points per outing. She also leads the Tigers in assists and steals. White also lead GC in free throw attempts and free throws made.
The Tigers average 62.1 and yield 74.5 points per contest.
Coach Chris Nelson is in his 15th season as the head coach of the Bethel Lady Women's Basketball program. He is beginning his third year on the Board of Director's Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Nelson has been a four time WBCA National Coach of the Year finalists and has also been a four time WBCA Regional Coach of the Year finalist. He has been named the conference coach of the year five times during his career. Nelson was named WHoopDirt.com NAIA coach of the year presented by Pivot Analysis for the 2019-20 college basketball season. He also was named the NAIA Division 1 Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. Nelson has a career mark of 328-153 which ranks him 15th among active wins in the NAIA. Bethel has hit at least one three-pointer in all 481 games Coach Nelson has coached at the school.
James Jackson is in his fourth season as head coach at GC. He led the Tigers to a NAIA National Championship appearance in 2019. He is 46-61 at the school.
The Countdown to Tip-off Show on WEIO, 100.9 and www.thefarmradio.com begins at 5 p.m. Fans can also watch the game at:
Live video: https://www.bethelathletics.com/f/WildcatVision.php
Live stats: http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
Basketball Protocols
Precautions and measures for teams, coaches and support staff
- MSC guidelines are being followed. These guidelines include but are not limited to :
1 - Coach/Player education about how to slow/prevent the spread of COVID-19
2 - Daily screening, pre travel screening
3- Cleaning and sanitizing of materials and facilities used and to be used
4 – Bench maximums
5- Coaching staff and support staff to wear masks
Precautions for fans & staff in arena
Each venue at Bethel University is under MSC & NAIA reduced capacity guidelines
Masks required at all times
- All fans enter gates next to ticket booths (no exceptions) All fans must have a ticket for entrance
- Fans are required to wear face masks at all times at ALL TIMES
- No food or drinks allowed in the arena
- Fans are required to sit six feet apart unless they are within a family group
- Only authorized and pre-game approved personnel allowed on the floor before and after the games
- Only authorized and pre-game approved personnel allowed near benches and press row
- We ask that fans do their best to not intermingle closely with players not in their family group before or after the game
- Selected games will be video streamed with no charge during the fall. There will be a streaming charge for spring contests.
These measures are subject to change with further details to be posted at www.bethelathletics.com
