Lady Wildcats Hope to Avenge Earlier Season Loss
LEBANON, Tenn. – The Bethel Lady Wildcats will attempt to avenge an earlier season conference home loss when they travel to Lebanon Thursday to meet Cumberland University. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Cats fell to the visiting Phoenix back on November 20 in Crisp Arena. Scoring binges were the story lines throughout the afternoon game between the Cats and CU. In the end, it was Cumberland outscoring Bethel 26-15 in the fourth quarter enroute to an 82-79 victory over the Wildcats. There were twelve lead changes in the game.
After the Phoenix outscored Bethel 20-13 in the second stanza, Bethel trailed 40-34 at the half. Bethel used a 21-3 run in the third to take a 64-56 margin at the end of three. The Lady Wildcats led much of the quarter and had a 77-72 lead late in the game. The Phoenix outscored Bethel 8-2 in the last few minutes to win.
Keely Morrow came off the bench to lead Bethel in scoring with a season high 23 points. She also had a team high 10 rebounds. Ryann Roberts followed with 17 points while Millie Bryant had 14 tallies. Mickey Head finished in double figures with 12 points.
Lindsey Freeman led CU with 17 points. Tierra David had 12 points and 10 boards. Tyra Johnson finished with 15 points. Jana Claire Swafford (14) and Devon Burns (11) combined for 25 bench points for CU. The Phoenix bench outscored the Bethel reserves 36-25. Cumberland had a 37 -29 advantage in rebounds.
The Cats enter the MSC match-up at 11-9 and 5-7 in the league. Bethel has won two straight while Cumberland has lost three in a row and five of their last seven. CU is 7-10 and 2-8.
The Phoenix are coming off a close 64-60 loss to Life University. The Wildcats are entering the game coming off a big conference win against Georgetown University 73-59.
Since 2012 the Phoenix leads the series between the two programs 4-3.
The Wildcats are averaging 67.4 points and yielding 60.1 points per outing.
Roberts leads Bethel in scoring averaging 14.8 points per game. Bryant follows at 13.8 points per outing. Morrow is in double figures at 12.2.
Bryant enters the game with 1,257 career points and 573 career rebounds. She is 10th in program history in scoring and 11th in 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. Bryant recently passed former Bethel great Teena Carter for 10th on the all-time Bethel scoring list
Head enters the game with 816 career rebounds and 256 career blocks. She has 1, 200 career points with 718 of those as a Lady Wildcat.
Bethel shoots 40 percent from the field while their opponents are at 37 percent from the floor. Bethel hits 32 percent of their three-point attempts. The opponents are at 33 percent. Bethel shoots 71 percent from the foul line while opponents shoot 66 percent.
Bethel has a 33-31 advantage in outrebounding their opponents per outing.
Trends & Numbers:
Bethel is 10-1 when they outshoot their opponents.
The Cats are 10-3 when they hit more three-pointers.
The Lady Cats are 8-0 when they outrebound their opponents.
Bethel is 10-0 when leading at the half.
The Cats are 7-7 when they have less turnovers.
Bethel is 7-2 when they score 70 or more points in a game.
Coach Chris Nelson is in his 16th season as head coach of the Lady Cats. He is 340-164 and 15th in wins among active coaches in the NAIA.
CU averages 68.5 points per game. They give up 70.4 per outing. Tyra Johnson leads the Phoenix in scoring at 16.5 points per game.
Scott Blum was hired as the women's basketball head coach for the Phoenix on April 12, 2018, after spending the previous 14 years as head coach at Grace College in Indiana. He is 25-63 at CU.
Live stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20220127_smjm.xml
Live video:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cu/
Tickets:
https://www.gocumberlandathletics.com/tickets/