Lady Wildcats Beat Shawnee State in Conference Opener
Lady Wildcats Beat Shawnee State in Conference Opener
MCKENZIE, Tenn. –The Bethel Lady Wildcats returned home Thursday to host Shawnee State in the conference opener for both squads.
The Cats remained undefeated with an 82-58 win over the visiting Bears. SSU dropped to 3-3 on the season. The Cats moved to 5-0.
Bethel jumped out to a 25-13 lead after the first quarter. Behind the scoring of Kelly Morrow, the Cats extended the lead to 19 at the break, leading 47-28.
The Wildcats maintained a sizeable margin in the second half and led by as many as 29 late in the game.
Bethel shot 51 percent from the floor (31-60) and knocked seven three pointers. The Cats had a commanding margin in rebounds at 45-24. Bethel had 22 assists and a 44-16 advantage in points in the paint.
The Cats held SSU to just 27 percent from the floor.
Morrow led Bethel with 18 points. Alyia Lee had her fourth double-double on the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kyla Taylor, playing for the first time on the season had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Madison Hart had 16 points and five assists. Raegan Blackburn had 11 points and four dimes. Alayna Anderson had four rebounds, five assist, six points and three steals.
Kam Elzy and Markayla Holland each scored 11 points to lead the Bears.
Coach Chris Nelson was pleased with the win. "We are happy to get off to a good start in conference play. Shawnee State is a very scrappy team and I thought we adjusted quickly. We were pleased with our rotations tonight and happy we were able to build a lead throughout the game. We had a balanced attack on offense, and we were proud of our rebounds, but we must improve our defensive effort. We will enjoy this one for a short time and get ready for Pikeville on Saturday."
Bethel is 149-25 all-time in Crisp Arena.
Bethel remains at home hosting UPIKE Saturday at 1 p.m.
Video:
https://bethelathletics.com/watch
Stats:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2022-23/boxscores/20221107_0rso.xml
https://www.bethelathletics.com/tickets