Bethany Charges Past Westminster

Bethany, W. Va. – The Bethany Bison women's basketball team rolled past Westminster Wednesday evening 59-44 inside Hummel Field House. The Bison were led by Senior Sammie Weiss and Sophomore Allison Kuhn with 11 points each. The green and white are now 9-6 (4-2) and the Titans fall to 5-10 (3-4).

GAME OVERVIEW
1st- Bethany scored first in the contest from a pair of free throws from Kelsie Meintel. The Bison and Titans exchanged buckets back and forth before jumping to a 9-6 lead. The green and white held the Titans to six points for the half going on a 8-0 run to end the quarter. Bethany led 12-6 after one stanza.

2nd- The Bison started the second with Allison Kuhn hitting two freebies from the foul line. The Titans went ahead 18-17, and took a three point lead. Foul shots from Skyler Myers and Courtney Walker helped the Bison get within one of before the half. The Titans led at halftime, 23-22.

3rd- Makayla Reynolds got hot the second half scoring all nine of her points in the last 20 minutes of the game. Reynolds started the second half with a jumper to regain the Bison lead. The green and white took off building the lead to as many as six. Bethany and Westminster went neck and neck in the third, the Bison led 39-36 at the end of the third stanza.

4th- Bethany scored 17 points from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, building the Bison lead to as many as 16. The Bison were 18-22 in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe.

IN THE BOX SCORE
• Sammie Weiss and Allison Kuhh led the Bison with 11 points each
• Kuhn was 3-5 from behind the arc
• The Bison out rebounded the Titans 45-38. Ashley Duthie grabbed a team high nine rebounds
• Weiss scored nine of her 11 points from the charity stripe
• Bethany was 29-35 from the foul line, while Westminster shot 5-14
• Makayla Reynolds scored all of her nine points in the second half of the game and added six rebounds
• Kelsie Meintel added eight points and Haylie Glass contributed seven points

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Brian Sansom:

"I am not going to lie I was concerned how we were going to play tonight! We didn't have the two most outstanding practices leading into tonight's game with Westminster and we came out very flat and didn't take care of the ball at all during the first half, I am not sure much went right for us in all three aspects of the game to be honest during that first half! We were very fortunate to play good enough defense to keep us in the game! I did like how we responded after halftime or to me what seemed like we woke up and got aggressive and played more of our game in the 2nd half! We were able to really get ourselves in the paint and draw fouls in the 2nd half, which lead to a bunch of opportunities at the foul line! This may sound silly because we only gave up 44pts but we didn't defend all that well tonight, the players even agreed, a lot of fundamental stuff we talk about we got away from tonight. All 14 players helped us figure out a way to win this one! Sometimes the ones who don't play can have the biggest impact on the game, our bench was electric. The energy and support from teammates when we were struggling got us the W. Love how selfless this group is! I told my players after the game I want them to learn that you can't just show up in this world, because you just can't show up in life, can't just show up for class, can't just show up for your family when you want but rather you have to go get things you want in this world because if not someone will take what they want right out of their hands. This is ONLY a basketball game but I do love how we're able to teach them about life through the game! The objective of the game is to win and I am glad we were able to find a way to do that tonight and this is especially true for PAC games!" #ONEBethany

UP NEXT
Bethany travels to Washington, Pa Saturday Jan. 12 to take on Washington & Jefferson in a PAC contest at 1 pm