Women's Basketball: Bison pull off gritty win over Bearcats

BETHANY, W.Va.- Hummel Field House hosted the quarterfinal Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup of third seeded Bethany and the the six seeded Saint Vincent College. The Bethany College women's basketball team will be moving onto the semifinals after a defense driven 53-43 victory over the Bearcats. 

GAME FLOW/HIGHLIGHTS 

• Saint Vincent started out with a bang while the Bison took awhile to get into their gameflow. The Bearcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead when a block by Lizzie Bender shifted every ounce of momentum to the Saint Vincent side of the court.  

• The Bison then started to crack down defensively. Neither team hit the ten point mark until over halfway through the first. 

• Bethany was unable to find the bottom of the basket shooting just 25% in the first quarter; going 0-5 from beyond the arc. What kept them in the game was foul shots where they collectively went a perfect 5-5 at the line. 

• Not only did the free throws keep the game close point wise. The Bison Stampede in the stands felt that there should have been more opportunities at the charity stripe. Their energy fed into the players.  

• The Bearcats managed to carry a lead into the second thanks to a three pointer made by Emily Thompson 16-13, but the momentum from the start of the game slowly began to creep towards the Bethany bench. 

• The start of the second quarter saw the Bearcats extend their lead to 24-16 at its peak with 8:34 left.  

• Mackenzee Mason then got fouled twice on consecutive possessions when handling the ball. Mason lit a fire under the Bison as they locked down on defense for the rest of the quarter, not allowing a single point for the last eight and a half minutes. 

• Key defensive metrics were Ashleigh Wheeler's three steals and Kate Botti's five defensive rebounds. 

• On the other side of things, Bethany started to heat up on offense dropping 20 in the quarter. Lindsey Garrison led the charge with 11 of her 14 points coming in said quarter. 

• The Bison went into the locker room with a 33-24 lead over the Bearcats. 

• Bethany entered the second half with much of the same shooting issues that plagued them at the start of the game.  

• The positive side is the Bison held a nine point lead coming out of half and played good enough defense to prevent the Bearcats from going on any massive runs. 

• The end of the third ended with Sophie Morey putting in a layup for the Bison, making it a two possession game at 42-38. 

• The final quarter was another defensive masterclass for Bethany as they held Saint Vincent to only five points.  

• Botti added to her monster day in the paint with a block in the first possession and six total rebounds in the quarter. 

• Wheeler had a fourth quarter full of fours. She had four points from the field, four defensive rebounds, and went 4-for-4 on her free throws.  

• All of Wheeler's free throws came inside 40 seconds on the clock and iced the game for the Bison. They move onto the next round with a 53-43 victory over the Saint Vincent Bearcats. 

BOX SCORE METRICS 

• Bethany made more free throws (18) than field goals (16).  

• Garrison outscored Saint Vincent's entire squad in the second quarter 11-8. 

• Botti ended the game with 16 rebounds and a pair of blocks. 

• Morey led the game in points-per-minute averaging a score every two minutes she was on the court. In her 16 minutes, she also tallied six rebounds and a block. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

• Both teams shot nearly the same from the field. Bethany: 30.8% Saint Vincent: 29.8% 

• Free throws were the story of the game. Bethany shot 75% going 18-for-24 at the stripe. 

• Those 18 points are over ⅓ of the Bison's total points scored. 

• Including the Bearcats seven made threes, over a quarter (26%) of the points scored in this game came from the line.  

RECORDS 

Bethany College - (15-11) (12-8 PAC) 

Saint Vincent College - (13-13) (11-9 PAC) 

UP NEXT 

No. 3 Bethany College will travel to No. 2 Chatham (22-3) (18-2 PAC) for a chance to make it to the PAC championship game. The game is scheduled to be played Thursday, February 22nd at 7:30 pm.