Seniors propel Bison past Yellowjackets

Bethany, W.Va - The Bethany College women's basketball team celebrated senior night and concluded the regular season on Saturday afternoon, for a President's Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup against the Waynesburg Yellowjackets. The Bison rolled past the Yellowjackets, 88-76. Bethany had five players who hit double figures, led by senior Sammie Weiss with 23 points and senior Ashley Duthie's double-double with 12 points and team high 11 boards. The green and white are now 13-12 (8-8), while Waynesburg Yellowjackets is 8-17 (6-10). In only Coach Sansom's third year, the Bison finish over .500 in the regular season for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

GAME OVERVIEW
1st- The Yellowjackets took a 4-0 lead before senior Taylor Large put the Bison on the board, 4-2. Janaya Hazlip knotted the game at 4-4 with a layup moments later. Bethany took a 9-8 lead from another Hazlip layup. The Bison extended their lead with layups from Sammie Weiss and Ashley Duthie, 15-8. The green and white led 17-11 at the end of the first stanza.

2nd- Threes from Amanda Reynolds and Allison Kuhn put the Bison up 25-18. The Yellowjackets battled back cutting the lead to two, before Makayla Reynolds brought the green and white back up 27-23. The Bison and Yellowjackets battled back and forth with Waynesburg taking a 36-35 lead going into halftime.

3rd- Taylor Large gave the Bison the lead back to start the second half, 37-36. A Weiss jumper extended the lead 39-36. The Yellowjackets didn't back down, knotting the game at 41-41. Bethany and Waynesburg seesawed with the Yellowjackets taking a 57-54 lead at the end of the third stanza.

4th- Bethany's defense led to a huge fourth quarter run with the Bison outscoring the Yellowjackets, 34-19. The green and white regained the lead with an Ashley Duthie breakaway layup, 58-57 and the Bison never turned back. Old fashion three point plays from Weiss and Hazlip put the Bison ahead 64-57. The Bison lead extended to 11 after a Haylie Glass shot from behind the arc, 70-59. The Yellowjackets attempted to stick around but the Bison maintained a comfortable lead.

IN THE BOX SCORE
• Senior Sammie Weiss led the Bison with 23 points and added seven boards
• Senior Ashley Duthie registered a double-double with 12 points and a team high 11 rebounds. Duthie dished out six assists and had career high five blocks
• Senior Taylor Large added four points in 14 minutes and pulled in four rebounds
• Allison Kuhn contributed 13 points, along with Janaya Hazlips' 11 points and team high seven assists for the green and white
• Makayla Reynolds added 10 points in 17 minutes for the Bison
• Bethany shot a hot 48.3% (29-60) from the field and 80% (24-30) from the charity stripe
• The green and white dished out 20 assists and pulled in 44 rebounds

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Brian Sansom:

"I am really happy for our seniors! I thought all three of them played outstanding and it was nice to get them a win today! Taylor gave us a spark at the start of the game and the start of the 3rd quarter! I hope we can take this momentum into the playoffs on Monday! One stat I am so happy about is 20 assists on 29 made field goals which allowed us to have 5 players in double figures! That shows how well we were finding each other on the floor! I also think 29 made field goals might be the highest of the season! We made some really big plays in the 4th quarter, we had very timely runs that came from great defensive possessions! Another big stat was with Waynesburg fouling to extend the game in the 4th was us hitting 17 of 20 foul shots and 24-30 overall for the game! We do need to be better on defense in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, we have been giving up a lot of points in those quarters, we just need to tighten up a few things but I know we will be better! We laughed in the locker room after the game about why we do this to ourselves! We show at times that we're a really, really good basketball team! I hope this is the week we figure out how to be more consistent with our play because if we do we will give ourselves a fighting chance to win! I hope on Monday we can get a very LARGE amount of our student body to come out and support our team in the first round of the PAC Tournament at 7pm! #ONEBethany"

UP NEXT
Bethany concluded the regular season and will face Thiel for the first round of PAC Tournament on Monday at 7:00 pm, inside Hummel Field House.