Women's Basketball
Seyfred Leads Lady Pilots Past Saints
Game Summary
They were chuckin’ shots from the cheap seats Saturday in Gates Gym as the Lady Pilots welcomed their new foe from four miles away, Holy Cross, in the first ever matchup of the two lady’s teams. When the dust had settled, seventy-eight trifectas were taken by the two teams, including forty by the host squad as NAIA No. 8 Bethel cruised to an 82-52 win over the young Saints.
Holy Cross, fresh off a 59-53 win over Trinity Christian, entered the game with a 2-1 record in their first three games of the campaign, but things were tough from the start as Bethel jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back to lead by a score of 39-17 at the intermission. Bethel’s shooting wasn’t so hot in the first half, connecting on only 7 of 25 three-point attempts, but their defense was stifling, holding the Saints to only five field goals in the first 20 minutes.
The second half opened up a bit more for both teams and Bethel was on target from beyond the arc as they were successful on 7 of 15 attempts. The Lady Pilots out-rebounded Holy Cross 55-45, with 21 coming on the offensive end and forced 25 Saints turnovers.
Junior guard Heather Seyfred paced Bethel with 18 points, including four three-pointers, while backcourt buddies Jordan Robbins and Mandy Yoder added 15 and 13 respectively. Robbins was particularly sharp from long range, canning 5 of 6 shots from deep. Yoder continued her stellar play from the point guard position, adding 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
The frontcourt of Courtney Oleson (career high 11 rebounds) and freshmen Kristen Hicks (12 points) and Georgia Boisse (9 points, 10 rebounds) also played well for Bethel as they improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Saints were led by Anne Hamilton’s 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Lindsey Swaim chipped in with 12 points and 6 caroms.
“I am very happy with the way the team played today for being their first home game,” stated Head Coach Jody Martinez. “We don’t have many home games, so it is important that we take care of home court this season. The fan support was amazing and I hope that they enjoyed watching these girls play today. The starters did an excellent job of setting the tempo of the game and executing the game plan on defense. The bench is getting better and it is always good to get everyone into the game that dressed,” continued Martinez. “We had four players in double figures and we won the rebounding battle. Courtney did a great job in the paint grabbing 11 boards and Georgia did another great job of coming off the bench to grab 10 boards. Jordan Robbins had an excellent shooting game and Mandy and Heather did a good job of distributing the ball today. I thought we had another great performance from freshmen Kristen Hicks, especially with her effort on defense (5 steals),” added Martinez.
Bethel’s next action will see them travel to another cross-town matchup when they visit IUSB on Tuesday, November 10 at 5:30 pm.
