Bethany Drops Non-Conference Matchup vs. Southern Virginia

Winchester, Va – The Bethany College women's basketball team dropped a non-conference matchup to Southern Virginia 55-47, Saturday afternoon in Winchester Va. The Bison were led by senior guard Ashley Duthie with 16 points. The green and white are now 7-5, (2-1) and the Knights are 9-1.

GAME OVERVIEW
1st – The Bison and Knights exchanged buckets to start the game. Ashley Duthie tied the game with a layup. The green and white took a 5-2 lead with free throws coming from Kelsie Meintel. The Bison hung onto the lead with a layup from Sammie Weiss to put the Bison up 13-10 at the end of one.

2nd- The green and white's shooting went cold in the second quarter, shooting 26.7%, giving the Knights the lead. The Bison trailed by as many as six before cutting the lead to three before half on an Allison Kuhn layup. Bethany trailed 27-24 going into halftime.

3rd- Bethany tied the game on a Meintel three point play with 8:21 to go in the third. The green and white regained the lead with 7:26 to go with a Meintel free throw, giving the Bison a 28-27 lead. The Bison and Knights exchanged buckets, with the green and white getting a layup from Kuhn to go ahead to end the third, 36-34.

4th- A Makayla Reynolds' jumper put the Bison up four to start the fourth. The Bison held on to the lead until the 5:14 mark of the fourth, when the Knights went ahead 39-38. Later in the quarter, back to back threes put the Knights up 45-38. The Bison continued to climb back cutting the lead to five (45-40) from a Duthie layup. Moments later, the Knights cashed in on a couple of free throws putting them ahead 53-45. Bethany's comeback fell short, losing 55-47.

IN THE BOX SCORE
• Ashley Duthie led the Bison with 16 points and pulling down eight rebounds
• Kelsie Meintel added 13 points, shooting 4-9 from the field and knocking in five freebies from the foul line
• Allison Kuhn dished out four of the Bison's nine assists and contributed seven points

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Brian Sansom-
"We started the game with a lot of energy and did a good job defending and getting some early looks on offense. Their 6'3 post Garrish is a lot to handle and they do a good job of getting her the ball. Our effort was there and we took 18 more shots than them we just didn't capitalize. We need to capitalize more on their 27 turnovers! Ashley Duthie and Kelsie Meintel played very well for us today! I hope we continue to keep our turnovers on the low side so we can continue to get more shots during games because they will go in a little bit more than they did today! Time to shift our focus to conference play for the rest of the season, it should be a real battle the rest of the PAC schedule!" #ONEBethany

UP NEXT
Bethany travels back home for a conference matchup vs. Chatham Thursday Jan. 3. Tipoff is set for 5:30pm.