MCKENZIE, Tenn. – For only the second time this season, the Bethel Lady Wildcats were at home Tuesday hosting Simmons College of Kentucky. It was Bethel’s first home game since November 2nd.
The 15th ranked Lady Wildcats remained undefeated at 10-0 with a 115-73 win over the Lady Falcons. Bethel moved to 168-38 all-time in the arena which opened in 2012.
The undefeated record marks the best start for the Lady Cats during the Chris Nelson tenure as head coach.
The visiting Falcons from Louisville remained at 7-5 on the season as they counted the game as an exhibition. It was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Bethel led 45-43 at the half but outscored the Commonwealth visitors 70-30 in the second half. Fifteen different players scored for Bethel. The 115 points were a season high for the Cats.
Highlighting the game was Bethel’s Madison Hart who finished the game with 22 points. The junior entered the game with 1, 981career points. Hart became the 19th player in program history to become a member of the 1,000-point club. Hart’s sister, Micah, had a huge game with a 28-point effort. Kalynn Howard sparked the Cats with 11 of her 13 points in the second half. Kylee Alexander tossed in 10 points.
Before Bethel pulled away in the second half, there had been ten ties and 17 lead changes.
Bethel had a 48-22 margin in bench points. The Cats shot 45 percent from the floor and nailed 10 three-pointers.
Morgan Defoor had a game high 36 points for Simmons.
Coach Chris Nelson commented, “We have a lot of things to be thankful for tonight . We were excited to be home and were really pleased with our crowd and local support. We are extremely excited for Madison reaching 1,000 points. We have to get better defensively and do a better job carrying out the scout as we move forward.”
The Lady Cats hit the road again this weekend traveling to Marietta, Georgia. They play Brewton-Parker Friday at 3 p.m. and Life Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Cats are 3-0 all-time versus BPU and 6-0 all0time against Life.