Wildcats Faces No. 1 Southeastern in Round of 16
SIOUX CITY, Iowa, - The (RV) Bethel Lady Wildcats, fresh off their two wins over No. 18 St. Xavier and (RV) Dakota Wesleyan in Omaha will be back in action Thursday with a berth in the Round of 16 at the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The championship takes place at the Tyson Events Center from March 17-22.
The Lady Wildcats will meet Southeastern University, the number one seed in the Naismith Quadrant and the number one ranked team in the nation. The Fire has won 27 straight and sports a 31-1 mark. Southeastern was 16-0 in the Sun Conference.
It will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Tip-off is scheduled Thursday at 1 p.m. CST.
Championship Link:
https://www.naia.org/sports/wbkb/index
Live Radio:
Catch the live audio with Dave McCulley and Austin Childress on WEIO, 100.9.
Live Video:
https://naia.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/stretch_wbkb
Live Stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20220317_8e4o.xml
Ticket Link
Local fans can watch the live stream in Crisp Arena.
After winning four of their last five, Bethel enters the match-up at 21-13. Bethel has won seven of their last ten. The Cats were 12-10 in the Mid-South Conference.
The two squads had two common opponents on the season. Southeastern beat Carroll College 67-60 and beat Brescia 108-27. Bethel beat Brescia 84-38 but lost to Carroll College 74-48.
Bethel is 3-2 in neutral site games on the season. The Fire is 4-0 in neutral site affairs.
Bethel is led in scoring by Millie Bryant who averages 13.7 points per game. The senior from Dresden, Tennessee leads the squad in steals (37) and in assists (97). Bryant is one of the best rebounding guards in the Mid-South Conference averaging six boards per outing. Keely Morrow averages 12.2 points per game and leads the team in free throw attempts and free throw made going 87-of-102 from the charity stripe. Ryann Roberts is third in scoring at 11.6 points per outing. Roberts leads the team in three-point attempts and in treys made on the year. She is 62-of -188 from deep. Jenna Foust who joined the team at mid-season averages 10.5 points. Senior Mickey Head averages 8.7 points per game and leads the team in rebounding pulling down almost seven rebounds per game.
The Wildcats are averaging 65.5 and giving up 58.9 points per game. Bethel outrebounds their opponents 32-31 per contest. The Cats are shooting 40 percent from the floor and 32 percent from behind the three-point arc. Bethel shoots 73 percent from the foul line. Bethel's opponents are shooting 36 percent from the floor and 31 percent from behind the three-point line. The opponents are shooting 70 percent from the foul line.
Bryant enters the game with 1,336 career points and 653 career rebounds. She is eighth in program history in scoring and 9th in career rebounds. Earlier this season she became just the 10th Lady Cat to score 1,000 points or more and collect five hundred rebounds or more.
Head has 913 career rebounds and 296 career blocks. The senior from Clarksville, Tennessee has eighty-two rejections on the season. Head had eight blocks in the two games in Omaha. She has 1, 315 career points with 832 of those as a Lady Wildcat. Head is the all-time program leader in blocks.
The Lady Wildcats have made 264 three-pointers on the season. The program record is 302 in 2014-15.
Wildcat Trends & Numbers:
Bethel is 19-2 when they outshoot their opponents.
The Cats are 19-5 when they hit more three-pointers.
The Lady Cats are 15-0 when they outrebound their opponents.
Bethel is 16-1 when leading at the half.
The Cats are 13-9 when they have less turnovers.
Bethel is 10 -2 when they score seventy or more points in a game.
The victory over Dakota Wesleyan marked another milestone in program history. It was Coach Chris Nelson's 350th career win. He is 350- 168 at the school. He is 15th in wins among active coaches in the NAIA.
His teams have hit at least one three-pointer in each of his 518 games. He has led the program to fourteen national tournament appearances which include two semi-final berths and now four Round of 16 appearances. Bethel is making their first appearance in the Round of 16 since 2017. His squad qualified for the 2020 national tourney which was not held due to Covid19.
Mark Vaughn and Jennifer Nelson are assistants with the program.
Angela Perry, the Sun Conference Player of the Year leads Southeastern in scoring averaging 17.7 points per game. She also leads her squad averaging over six rebounds per outing. Perry leads the Fire in free throw attempts and in free throws made. She has a team leading 43 blocks on the year. Leilah Vigil follows at 12.3 points per game. She also averages almost six boards per contest. Marta Arnada is in double figures at 10.5 points per game. She has a team leading 84 steals this year and has a squad leading 56 made three-pointers. Five other players average seven or more points for the Fire. Tahanee Bennell leads Southeastern with 122 assists.
The Fire averages 83.7 points per game. They yield just fifty-five per outing. The Fire shoots 48 percent from the floor and 37 percent from behind the three-point mark. Those two marks are second best in the nation. They shoot 75 percent from the foul line. They have held opponents to 35 percent from the field and 28 percent in three-point attempts. Opponents are shooting 63 percent from the charity stripe.
Tim Hayes has been the head coach of the Fire since 2016. He is 174-10 at the school. Prior to Southeastern, Hays was the head coach at Colorado Christian. He has a 317-112 career mark.