Women's Basketball Struggles Continue

Altoona, Pa – The Bethany College women's basketball team faced the Penn State-Altoona Lady Lions in a non-conference matchup Saturday afternoon. The Lady Lions jumped out to an 8-0 run in the beginning of the fourth quarter to take the lead and the game, 74-62.  Kelsie Meintel, Courtney Walker, and Haylie Glass led the Bison with 12 points apiece.

GAME OVERVIEW

The Bison jumped out to a quick five point lead against the Lady Lions in the first quarter. Freshman Taiven Clark put the Green and White on the board with a layup followed by a Courtney Walker three pointer. Abbey Dobbins laid one in to give the Bison a 7-2 lead with 8:08 to go in the first stanza. The Lady Lions battled back to knot the game at 9-9 with 5:32 to go in the first and eventually took a lead after a Bethany turnover. A Haylie Glass jumper from behind the arc regained the lead for the Green and White. The Lady Lions would tie the game at 15-15 before the end of the stanza.

Bethany started the second quarter jumping out to another four point lead from back-to-back layups from Glass and freshman Samaria Murry. Penn State-Altoona came back and evened the score again at 20-20. The Bison rebuilt their lead back up to five but would see their lead cut to just two after a Lady Lion three. The Green and White went into the half deadlocked with the Lady Lions, 28-28.

The momentum went back and forth between the two teams in the opening minutes of the third quarter, with momentum sticking with the Bison. A Walker three and Dobbins jumper in the paint gave the Bison a five point lead, 35-30. Back-to-back threes from Allison Kuhn and Walker gave the Bison their biggest lead of the night, up nine with 5:35 to go in third quarter. The Bison and Lady Lions scrapped back and forth with the Bison leading into the final quarter, 51-48.

A Lady Lion 8-0 run opened up the final stanza. Turnovers from the Bison led to buckets on the opponents' end. The Green and White cut the lead to one from a Dobbins layup with 7:00 minutes to go in the ballgame, 56-55, but the Lady Lions were able to answer with a fast-break layup. After another Bison turnover, the Lady Lions rebuilt the lead back up to five with a jumper in the paint. Bethany kept battling, cutting the lead again to one with 4:26 to go, from a pair of Meintel freebies, 60-59. However, Bethany was unable to get the key stops on defense allowing the Lady Lions to go back up eight, 67-59 with just outside of two minutes to go. The Bison would fall 74-62.

IN THE BOX SCORE

• Bethany outrebounded Penn State-Altoona, 46-26
• The Bison shot a cold, 11-23 from the foul line
• Penn State-Altoona scored 31 points off of 27 Bethany turnovers
• Kelsie Meintel – 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Courtney Walker – 12 points, 5 rebounds (4-7 from three)
• Haylie Glass – 12 points, 7 rebounds
• Abbey Dobbins – 9 points, 5 rebounds
• Allison Kuhn – 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists

RECORDS

Bethany College Bison – 0-6 (0-0 PAC)

Penn State-Altoona – 2-2 (0-0 AMCC)  

UP NEXT 

Bethany College women's basketball opens up PAC conference play when they travel to Beaver Falls, Pa on Wednesday, December 4 against the Geneva Golden Tornadoes. Tip-off set for 5:30 pm.