Bethany knocks off Chatham, 83-48

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

PITTSBURGH (Feb. 15) – The Bison surged past Chatham 83-47 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest Wednesday night.

The Bethany College women's basketball team improves to 12-12 overall, 10-7 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Cougars fall to 6-11 in the PAC, 11-12 overall this season.

Junior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) matched a career-high with 31 points on 11-for-12 from the field and added 16 rebounds to register her 17th double-double of the season. Sophomore guard Sammie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) dropped 21 points and six boards, while senior guard Hayley Holenka (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) and junior forward Kelsi Settle (Sebring, Ohio/Sebring) tallied 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Chatham held a one-point lead after one quarter and held its biggest advantage of the game following a three-pointer with 6:10 remaining in the first half to take a 23-18 lead.

Daugherty and the Bison took over the game from that point. Bethany closed the half out by out-scoring the Cougars 24-to-5 to take a 39-25 lead into the locker rooms. The Bison shot 11-for-15 (73 percent) from the field during that stretch, including 13 points from Daugherty. Defensively, the Bison held Chatham to 2-of-9 (22 percent) and forced four turnovers.

A basket by the Cougars to open the second half trimmed the Bethany lead to 12, but Chatham would not get any closer. Bethany went on to extend its lead to 24, 60-36, by the end of the third quarter after shooting 7-of-12 (58 percent) in the period.

The Bison did not take their feet off the pedal in the fourth quarter, pushing their lead to as many as 36 points before collecting the team's 12th win of the season with a 35-point victory.

Bethany ended the contest shooting 30-for-51 (59 percent) and held a 40-to-26 edge on the glass. The Bison finished the game with 20 assists, led by Holenka who dropped five dimes.

Bethany will conclude the 2016-17 regular-season on Saturday, February 18 when it hosts Grove City for Senior Day at 2 p.m.