Women's Basketball: Bethany Tabbed Fourth In PAC Preseason Poll

Erikka Sansom, Director of Athletic Communications 

Full PAC Release 

Greenville, Pa. – The Bethany College women's basketball team was selected to finish fourth in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll announced Tuesday afternoon.

Perennial league-favorite Saint Vincent was chosen to win the conference title. Washington & Jefferson came in second and Grove City was chosen to finish third ahead of the Bison.

Bethany returns four starters from last season's team that went 5-6 (4-5 PAC), including PAC Newcomer of the Year Makenzee Mason and seniors Kelsie Meintel and Courtney Walker. Sixth-year Head Coach Brian Sansom returns 11 and added six newcomers.

"We're very young in a lot of key positions so there will be some growing pains early in the season but our scholar-athletes have been working hard to get better each day" stated Sansom. "I expect that we could go with a few different lineups at times based on matchups. I would love for our rotation to get to around 10-11 players a game."

Mason finished sixth in the PAC in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game, and posted a PAC-best .850 free throw percentage. Her 3.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game both ranked as eighth-best in the league. Mason scored 20-plus points twice this season, including a game-high 26 in No. 7 Bethany's 66-62 quarterfinal loss at No. 2 W&J.

Meintel finished the season averaging 10.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. She started in all 11 games. The junior forward finished sixth in the PAC in free throw percentage (.735) and in the top 20 in both scoring (19th) and rebounding (12th).

Walker averaged 10.6 points with 5.5 rebounds per game. She finished the season shooting 75.0 percent from the foul line and dished out 1.4 assists per game.

Freshmen Ashleigh Wheeler and Lindsey Garrison were also among the PAC Players to Watch this season for the Bison. Wheeler averaged double-digits in both scoring and assists her senior season at Shenandoah High School. Garrison was one of the top three-point shooters in West Virginia last two seasons for Wheeling Park.

The Bison finished the season winning three of the last five games, two of those losses coming to two of the top teams in the conference, Grove City and Washington & Jefferson. The Bison gave PAC conference tourney runner-up Washington & Jefferson a run and battled in a 66-62 quarterfinal loss.

"I think the sky is the limit for this group, we just have to keep working, keep learning and hopefully we peak in February" added Sansom. ""We're very excited to have a full slate on games on the schedule this season."

Bethany opens up their season on November 6 at 7pm in New Concord, Ohio against Muskingum. The Bison will open PAC conference play on December 1 against Franciscan at 6pm in Steubenville, Ohio.