Bethany rally falls short against Saint Vincent, 54-48

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

BETHANY, W.Va. (Jan. 3) - The Bethany College women's basketball team had its rally fall short in a 54-48 loss to Saint Vincent Wednesday night in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at the Hummel Field House.

The loss drops the Bison to 5-7 overall, 2-3 in league play. Meanwhile, the Bearcats improve to 4-1 in the PAC, 7-5 overall this season.

Senior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) led the Bison with her sixth double-double of the season, posting 12 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. Junior guard Ashley Duthie (Madison, Ohio/Madison) was the top-scorer with 13 points, freshman guard Haylie Glass (Mercer, Pa./Mercer) added 10 and senior forward Kelsi Settle (Sebring, Ohio/McKinley) registered seven points with a season-high 12 rebounds (seven offensive) in the loss.

Saint Vincent knocked down a trio of three pointers in the first quarter and took a 15-6 lead into the first intermission. The Bearcat defense continued to stiffle the Bison in the second quarter and limited Bethany to five points on two field goals. Saint Vincent forced 11 first half turnovers and built up a 27-11 advantage heading into halftime.

Bethany began to chip away at the Bearcat lead in the third quarter. Freshman guard Allison Kuhn (Lewisville, Ohio/Monroe Central) drained a trey on the team's first possession which helped spark a 7-2 run to open the second half and narrow the deficit to 29-18 with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter. Saint Vincent re-established a double-digit lead in the final minute with a Mara Benvenuti three-point shot, but freshman guard Fallon Nicholson (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown) answered with a three pointer of her own in the closing seconds of the quarter to draw within 10, 39-29, heading into the final period.

Bethany pulled within six points, 41-35, in the opening 90 seconds of the fourth quarter with the help of back-to-back three-point shots by Glass. Saint Vincent did not allow the Bison to get any closer until a second-chance basket by Settle with 1:49 left in the game cut the Bearcat lead to five at 49-44. Saint Vincent responded with a Maria Morgan three pointer to rebuild the lead to eight points with just over a minute remaining in the contest to effectively put the game away. The Bearcats managed to convert enough free throws in the final minute to hold off the Bethany comeback attempt.

Saint Vincent forced 22 turnovers in the game, which directly led to 20 points on the other end. Despite a 40-to-28 advantage in the rebound department for the Bison, the Bearcats held a 16-to-12 edge in second-chance points.

Benvenuti led all players with 16 points in the win and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career with a second quarter layup.

Bethany heads north to Greenville, Pennsylvania on Saturday, January 6 to take on Thiel for a PAC contest at 1 p.m.