Women's Basketball
Lady Pilots Take Care Of Marian On The Road To Win Sixth Straight
Game Summary
In first place and with a large target on their backs, the Bethel College women's basketball team traveled to Marian College and came away with a hard fought victory 77-72. The Lady Pilots came out flat at the outset and trailed by as many as 11 points at the 12:11 mark, 18-7. Some hot shooting by Bethel's Mandy Yoder and Bekah Basinger carried the Pilots back and a three-pointer by Heather Seyfred at the 4:00 mark gave Bethel their first lead 27-24. Marian was able to hold a two point advantage at the half 37-35, behind stellar shooting from the floor (63% in the first half). Yoder paced Bethel in the opening half with 13 points, while Basinger added 10 in support.
"Once again I am really proud of this team,” said coach Jody Martinez. “We always know that Marian is going to be a tough place to play and tonight we got into a hole again early and had to fight our way back. Our bench came thru for us tonight, giving us big minutes at pivotal points of the game. I thought Kelsy McKee played some of the best minutes of her career down the stretch and our shooting from the free throw line and behind the arc was huge in the second half. We've been battling pretty hard lately, so this break we have coming up comes at a great time as we prepare for our next test in Taylor University next Wednesday."
Bethel surged out to a 9-0 streak to start the half and held the lead until the 3:29 mark when Marian took the lead 69-68. Marian's lead was short lived, however, as Bethel scored immediately and never looked back. Kelsy McKee scored 9 points in the second half and finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds, while Amber Peters also added 9 points in the second stanza to finish with 13. Bekah Basinger finished the game with 14 points and 7 rebounds while Mandy Yoder led all scorers, finishing the game with 25 points, including 6 of 9 from behind the three point line. Yoder also had 5 steals as Bethel forced 22 Marian turnovers for the game. The Lady Pilots were very efficient from the charity stripe, connecting on 17 of 21 for 81% and 10 for 21 behind the arc.
The NAIA No.16 Lady Pilots improve to 19-7 overall and sit atop the MCC with an 11-3 record. Bethel will have a bye in this weekend's MCC action and will next see action on Senior Day, Wednesday, February 18th as they host Taylor University.
