Women's basketball rolls past Chatham, 77-40

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

PITTSBURGH (Jan. 17) - Led by a season-high 22 points from freshman forward Makayla Reynolds (Buckhannon, W.Va./Buckhannon-Upshur), the Bison cruised to a 77-40 win over Chatham Wednesday night at the Athletics and Fitness Center. 

The win improves the Bethany College women's basketball team to 7-9 overall, 4-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Meanwhile, the Cougars fall to 2-7 against league foes, 4-12 overall.

Reynolds finished the night 10-of-13 from the field and added seven rebounds (one shy of a season-high) in the win. The Buckhannon native helped the Bison build a 20-point lead before halftime with 19 of her 22 coming in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Senior forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) added 12 points and nine rebounds, while freshman Fallon Nicholson (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown) chipped in nine points to help the Bison win their seventh game this season.

Bethany led for the majority of the game's first five minutes, before back-to-back baskets by Chatham gave the Cougars a 10-8 advantage with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter. The Bison went on to close the period with a 7-2 run to take a 15-12 lead into the second quarter. Bethany defensively limited Chatham to 1-of-7 shooting and forced three turnovers over the final four minutes of the first quarter.

Chatham sliced the Bison lead to 17-15 with 7:29 left in the second quarter, before Bethany pulled away by out-scoring the Cougars 23-to-5 over the final seven minutes, including 16-unanswered points, to take a 40-20 lead into halftime. Nicholson spearheaded the run with back-to-back three pointers, while Reynolds tallied nine of her 19 first-half points during the stretch.

The Bison were not slowed down by the intermission. Bethany came out of the locker rooms with a 16-4 run to start the second half and built its lead to 32 points, 56-24, with just under four minutes left in the third quarter. Chatham answered with its best stretch of the game to close out the period, but the Bison still led 58-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Green & White re-established a 30-point lead with nine-straight points to open the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and drained eight of its 10 free-throw attempts in the final six minutes to help establish the 37-point win.

Bethany finished the game 30-of-54 (56 percent) from the field, including 6-of-13 (46 percent) from three-point range. Chatham was limited to 15-of-56 (27 percent) and only connected on one of its 10 attempts from beyond-the-arc.

The win is the largest margin of victory and second 30-point win by the Bison under second-year Head Coach Brian Sansom. Bethany defeated Chatham 83-48 last season in Pittsburgh. 

Bethany will enter the second half of its PAC schedule when it hosts Waynesburg on Saturday, January 20 at the Hummel Field House.