Women's Basketball: Bison comeback falls short; Garrison sets single-season three-point record

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Bethany College women's basketball team traveled to Pittsburgh for the semifinal round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Thursday evening. The three seeded Bison faced the two seeded Chatham University.

MATCHUP

Final Score: Chatham 66, Bethany 56

GAME FLOW/HIGHLIGHTS

• Neither team could get their offense going in the first quarter. Both teams were held to five field goals and knotted at 10-10 after the first. Bella Skobel and Makenzee Mason led the Bison with four points apiece. Ashleigh Wheeler added two.
• The second quarter doomed the Bison. The Green and White had eight turnovers and shot 4-of-9 from the field. Chatham's offense began to heat up in the second quarter as they shot 66.7% from the field (10-15). Not only was the Cougar's offense heating up but their defense had six steals and they held the Bison scoreless for eight minutes of the second quarter.
• The Cougars swelled their lead to 33-10 before the Bison were able to score their first bucket of the quarter. Sophie Morey had the first points of the quarter for the Bison. Bethany went on a 10-0 run to end the half including a jumper and back-to-back three's by Lindsey Garrison.
• Chatham led off the second half on an 8-0 run. Kate Botti's jumper broke the run followed by a Skobel jumper. The Bison kept battling and slowly began to chip away at the Cougar lead.
• The Cougars led 50-34 after three quarters of play.
• Neither team could find the bottom of the basket for the first three minutes of fourth quarter. Sophie Morey hit another layup to cut the deficit. Ashleigh Wheeler hit back-to-back three's to cut the lead to 10. After a few stops on defense, Wheeler hit her third three with brought the Bison within seven, 52-45 with just over five minutes to go. A Morey layup cut the deficit down to five, but the Bison would give up an easy layup to give the Cougars slight momentum back.
• Morey knocked in a pair of free throws to keep the momentum with the Bison.
• Chatham would end up scoring on three straight possessions to build their lead back to double-digits.
• With 1:18 to go, Lindsey Garrison drilled a three cutting the lead to nine. Unfortunately for the Bison they wouldn't see single-digits again and the comeback fell short.  

IN THE BOX SCORE

• Lindsey Garrison led the Bison with 15 points, shooting 4-of-10 from behind the arc.
• Ashleigh Wheeler and Makenzee Mason finished with 11 points each.
• Sophie Morey had a 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Chatham shot 48.3% from the field while Bethany shot 34.5%.
• Bethany won on the boards, 39-34.
• The Cougars scored 27 points off of 23 Bison turnovers.

NOTEABLES

• Lindsey Garrison finished the season with 78 made three pointers. Her 155 made three pointers ranks fourth all-time on Bethany's career list. She surpassed alumni Rose Scott (152) in the loss to the Cougars.

RECORDS

Bethany College – 15-12 (12-8 PAC)  

Chatham University – 23-3 (18-2 PAC)

UP NEXT

With the loss, the Bison concluded their 2023-24 season.