Lady Wildcats Open Second Half of Season Monday at Freed-Hardeman
HENDERSON, Tenn. – The Bethel Lady Wildcats open the second portion of their season Monday visiting an old rival in Henderson. The Cats and the Freed-Hardeman Lions will meet for the 33rd time. FHU holds a 24-8 margin in the series. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. Bethel has won three of the last five matchups in the series.
The Cats sport an 8-5 overall mark and will re-enter MSC play at 2-3. Bethel has won four of their last five games. The Wildcats split their two recent games played in the Frontier Classic in Phoenix. FHU is 10-3 and 3-3. The Lions are riding a four -game winning streak. They outscored UTS 22-11 in the fourth quarter to win 54-45 Friday in Pulaski. FHU is 7-1 at home while the Wildcats are winless on the road at 0-2. The game is the first of three straight road games for Bethel.
The second half of the season will find Bethel playing nine road games. One of those is a make-up game with Tennessee Southern which will take place in Pulaski on February 2nd at 2 p.m. UTS postponed the December 16 game due to Covid protocols.
After the three road games, Bethel returns home for four straight home games. Two of those outings will be against teams ranked in the top five in Campbellsville (1) and Thomas More (3). The Cats play eight home games the remainder of the season. The Lady Cats are 135-22 all-time in Crisp Arena.
All seventeen games remaining are conference games.
The Wildcats are averaging 69.1 points and yielding 57.3 points per outing.
Millie Bryant and Ryann Roberts lead Bethel in scoring at 14.3 points per game. Bryant enters the second half with 1,156 career points and 541 career rebounds. Earlier this season she became just the 10th Lady Cat to score 1,000 points or more and collect 500 rebounds or more. Keely Morrow follows at 12.8 points per contest.
Bethel shoots 41 percent from the field while their opponents are at 36 percent from the floor. Bethel hits 34 percent of their three-point attempts. The opponents are at 31 percent. Bethel shoots 69 percent from the foul line while opponents shoot 66 percent.
Bethel has a 34-30 advantage in out rebounding their opponents per outing. Bethel is 7-0 when leading at the half.
The Lady Wildcats will return with Mickey Head back in the line-up. Head missed the last three games before the break. Head returns with 781 career rebounds and 231 career blocks. Bethel newcomer Jenna Foust is expected to be a big contributor transferring in from Kentucky Wesleyan. Aaliyah Brown is expected back after sitting out the first half due to an injury.
Coach Chris Nelson is in his 16th season as head coach of the Lady Cats. He is 337-160 and 15th in wins among active coaches in the NAIA.
FHU is led in scoring by Alyssa LeMay who averages 14.5 points per game.
The Lions average 73.9 and yield 58.5 points per game.
Joshua Epperson is in his second season as head coach of the Lions. He is 21-16 with the Lions.
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The Countdown to Tip-off Show begins at 5:30 p.m. with Dave McCulley, Austin Childress, and Clay Cotham on the coverage.
Live stats:
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Live video:
https://www.gofhulions.com/stretch