Bethany cruises past Westminster, 76-55

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Dec. 9) - Behind a double-double by senior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier), the Bethany College women's basketball team claimed a 76-55 win at Westminster Saturday afternoon in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game.

The win improves the Bison to 2-2 in the PAC, 2-6 overall. Meanwhile, the Titans drop to 1-6 overall, 0-4 in conference play.

Daugherty recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high three blocked shots. Junior guard Ashley Duthie (Madison, Ohio/Madison) established a career-high with 16 points and added eight rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots to her final line.

The game was tied at 6-6 through the first four minutes, before the Bison went on an 16-3 run to close out the first quarter with a 22-9 lead. Bethany defensively held Westminster to 1-of-10 shooting over the final six minutes of the quarter to build the advantage.

After a layup by junior guard Sammie Weiss (Taylorstown, Pa./McGuffey) to open the second quarter and extend the lead to 15, Westminster went on an 8-2 spurt to pull within single-digits at 24-15 with 7:53 remaining in the first half. Bethany rebuilt its lead to 30-17 over the next three minutes, spearheaded by six points from Daugherty, and went on to take a 40-28 advantage into halftime.

The Bison continued to add to its advantage in the third quarter, out-scoring the Titans 22-to-13 to take a 62-41 lead. Bethany shot 8-of-15 (53 percent) from the field in the third quarter and knocked down three of its six three-point attempts. Bethany maintained a lead of at least 18 points throughout the fourth quarter to cruise to the victory.

The Green & White finished the afternoon shooting 27-of-54 from the field, including 6-of-14 (43 percent) from long range. The Bison held a 41-to-30 edge on the glass and were credited with a season-high seven blocked shots.

Bethany will have the next week off in order to prepare for final exams and will return to the hardwood on Tuesday, December 12 when they travel to Cresson, Pennsylvania to take on Mount Aloysius for a non-conference game at 6 p.m.