Bison Women’s Basketball Drops Decision to Carnegie Mellon
Dec. 7 – BETHANY, W. Va. – The Bethany College women's basketball team fell, 70-57, to Carnegie Mellon on Monday evening.
The Bison (4-3) took an early 5-2 lead with 7:55 left as Hayley Holenka (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) drove past the Tartan defense for a layup and Mikyla Tipton (Wellsville, Ohio/Wellsville) followed with a three from the left corner.
The Tartans (7-0) responded with a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to retake the lead. Bethany trailed 18-10 at the end of the opening quarter.
Kelsi Settle (Sebring, Ohio/Sebring) converted a layup with 5:23 remaining in the second to end a 13-2 Tartan burst. Gabrielle Naples (Salem, Ohio/South Range) then took a pass from Alexis Naples (Salem, Ohio/South Range) and finished in the lane to make it 31-16 and force a Tartan timeout.
Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) scored six late points and Settle hit a three with 58 seconds left as the two teams exchanged baskets at the end of the quarter. The Tartans took a 46-27 lead into the half.
Carnegie Mellon came out of the break and extended their lead, taking a 54-30 advantage over the opening five minutes of the third.
Bethany slowly cut into the Tartan lead (57-36) as Sami Schott (Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) made a layup and Holenka added another triple to end the third quarter. The Green & White held Carnegie Mellon to just two points in the paint after allowing 14 in each previous quarter.
Holenka started off the fourth with two more threes to start a 20-6 run for the Bison. Tipton then fired in a triple with 5:33 remaining to narrow the Tartan advantage to 64-49.
Bethany once again went on the offensive with another three from Holenka and a fast-break layup from Alexis Naples to make it a ten-point contest with 3:53 left.
That would be as close as the Bison would get, however, as the Tartan's Lisa Murphy had an offensive putback and Jackie Hudepohl hit a long two in the late-goings. Murphy, the leading scorer in the nation, led all players with 19 points while Hudepohl added 15.
Offensively for Bethany, Holenka led the way with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep. Mikyla Tipton recorded her second career double-double with 11 points, including three triples of her own, and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Daugherty totaled nine points to go along with seven boards, and guard Alexis Naples finished with seven assists and zero turnovers.
Bethany forced 16 Tartan turnovers in the contest. Daugherty led the Bison with three blocks and two steals.
Bethany College will return to action as they host Geneva on Saturday, December 12 at 6:00 p.m.
