Lady Cats Face Montana State -Northern & Carroll College in Frontier Classic
CHANDLER, AZ – The Bethel Lady Wildcats play two games this week in the Frontier Classic in Arizona. Bethel faces Montana State University-Northern Tuesday at 11 a.m. CST. The Cats play # 5 Carroll College Wednesday at 11 a.m. CST.
The Tuesday match-up will be played at Chandler Gilbert Community College while Wednesday's game will be at Mesa Community College.
Bethel is 7-4 after winning their third straight Saturday. It will be Bethel's first neutral site games of the season.
MSU-N is 3-7 and has dropped four straight games. The Skylights are 0-2 in neutral site matchups. Carroll is 11-2 and has won four straight games. The Saints are 2-0 in neutral site affairs.
Both the Skylights and Saints compete in the Frontier Conference.
Last Time Out:
The Lady Wildcats played host to Life University Saturday afternoon in Crisp Arena. Bethel clipped the visitors from Marietta, winning 62-36.
The Lady Cats used a huge second quarter to erase a one-point deficit at the end of one. Bethel led 39-22 at the half after outscoring the Eagles 25-7 in the quarter.
Bethel forced Life into 16 turnovers and had a 16-1 margin in points off turnovers. Bethel had a 31-27 advantage in rebounds. The Lady Cats are 6-1 when they win the battle of the boards. Life had just two offensive rebounds in the game. Bethel held Life to 31 percent from the floor. The Cats hit nine three-pointers and had a 20-4 margin in points off the bench.
Millie Bryant was honored before the game as she recently became just the 10th player in program history to have 1, 000 or more career points and 500 or more career rebounds. Bryant led Bethel with 14 points and eight rebounds. She finished the night with 1, 130 career points and 529 rebounds. Keeley Morrow and newcomer Jenna Foust had nine points each. Foust had a team high three assists. Ashton Hulme had eight boards and seven points. Madison Henagar finished with six points and five boards.
The Cats moved to 7-4 overall and 2-3 in the MSC. The Running Eagles dropped to 4-9 and 1-5. Bethel is now 4-0 all-time in the series between the two programs.
Bethel is 7-2 at home this season and moved to 135-22 all-time in the arena. Bethel played the game without Mickey Head who sat out with an illness.
Coach Chris Nelson was pleased with the win." We are extremely proud of our effort today. We really shared the basketball well and created for each other in the half court and full court. Madison (Henegar) and Ashton (Hulme) stepped up big in the absence of Mickey today. It was good to finally get Jenna (Foust) in the mix as well. We have two big challenges to finish off our first semester and we are looking forward to the challenge out in Phoenix."
Cat Scratches:
The Lady Cats average 71.3 points per game. Bethel gives up 55.4 per outing.
Millie Bryant leads Bethel in scoring at 14.5 points per game. Ryann Roberts follows at 13.1. Keely Morrow pops in 12.4 points per contest.
Bethel is 6-0 when they lead at the half. The Lady Cats are 6-1 when they outshoot their opponents. They are 5-1 when they hit more three-pointers. Bethel is 5-1 when they outrebound their opponents. The Cats are 4-0 when they have less turnovers in a game.
In the recent Tougaloo game, Mickey Head had a game high 10 rebounds and blocked six Bulldog shots. Head has 231 career blocks and 781 career rebounds.
Newcomer Jenna Foust made her debut Saturday versus Life. The Dry Ridge, Kentucky native had nine points against the Running Eagles. She previously played at Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Wildcats will play three straight conference road games when they resume play after the Christmas break. They do not return to Crisp Arena until January 13 when they host Thomas More. Bethel is 135-22 all-time in the building.
The postponed UTS game scheduled for December 16 has been rescheduled for February 14. Game time in Pulaski is slated for 6 p.m.
Coach Chris Nelson is in his 16th season as the head coach of the Lady Wildcats. Nelson is 336-159 and ranks 15th in wins among active coaches in the NAIA.
Media coverage & Links
Live video: MSU-N
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQp8ohTX1FN-0qQzaMtmlmg
Live stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20211221_xw8p.xml
Live video: Carroll
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERBVRktYtkfbDskcdmuZ8A
Live stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20211222_lb1h.xml