Women's Basketball bows out of PAC Tournament to Chatham, 74-61

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 20) – The Bethany College women's basketball team saw its season conclude with a 74-61 loss to Chatham in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Quarterfinals Monday night at the Hummel Fieldhouse.

First-year Head Coach Brian Sansom and the Bison wrap-up the 2016-17 campaign at 12-14 overall. Meanwhile, the Cougars improve to 13-12 overall and advance to the PAC Quarterfinals to face Saint Vincent on Thursday.

Junior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) led the Bison and registered her 19^th double-double of the season with 22 points and 12 rebounds (six offensive). Daugherty finishes the season with 295 rebounds, the third-highest single-season total in school history.

Sophomore guard Sammie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) chipped in 18 points, while senior Hayley Holenka (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) finished her Bison career with 12 points in the loss.

Holenka ends her career with 1,103 points and stands 14^th all-time in school-history in points and third all-time with 177 three pointers made. Her 63 made three pointers this season rank as the second-highest single-season total in school history, one-shy of the 64 she converted in 2015-16. Holenka also ends her career with the single-game record for three pointers made in a game when she drained eight in a double-overtime loss to Washington & Jefferson.

Chatham stunned the rowdy Bethany crowd with an 8-2 run to open the game, forcing a Bison timeout four minutes into the contest. The Green & White responded by out-scoring the Cougars 17-6 to close out the opening period to take a 19-14 lead.

The Bison stayed out in front of Chatham in the second quarter and pushed their lead to 10, 26-16, with 3:08 left until halftime. Chatham guard Natalie Knab drained three three-point shots to close out the half and help the Cougars pull with five, 30-25, heading into halftime.

Chatham tied the game four minutes into the third quarter, but a three pointer by Holenka helped put the Bison back on top, 39-36, with 4:23 remaining in the period. The Cougars finally broke through with under three minutes in the third quarter at 43-41 and held the lead into the final quarter.

The Bison trailed for the first three minutes of the final session, until a trey by Weiss propelled Bethany to a 51-50 lead with 6:35 left in the game.

Chatham's Knab responded with back-to-back three pointers to push the Cougars out to a 56-51 lead with under five minutes remaining in the contest. The Bison came back to within seven, 64-57, with 2:22 on the clock, but the Cougars closed out the game by making all six of their free-throw attempts to put away the contest.

Chatham's Jesse Hinkle recorded a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cougars. Chatham shot 16-for-28 (57 percent) in the second half after posting 8-for-25 (32 percent) in the opening two quarters.

Bethany held a 40-to-33 advantage on the glass, including 19 offensive rebounds that were converted into 10 second-chance points.