Wichita, Kan. – The Bethany College Women’s Basketball team lost a conference matchup with the Friends University Falcons on Wednesday night 45-55.
Bethany would take an early 3-2 lead over the Falcons when Julia Nygard, senior guard, connected on a triple after the Falcons had netted a layup. Friends would answer with another interior bucket to go up one. The Falcons would extend their lead to three after a pair of free throws. Autumn Garrett, sophomore guard, would then drive in for two points following a Friends turnover. Friends answered with a three pointer to make it 9-5. That’s when Halei Wortham, senior guard, connected on a three from the top of the key and then Vasha Moore scored inside to put the Swedes up 10-9. Friends would score as time expired in the first quarter to pull ahead 11-10.
Friends opened the second quarter with a basket to go up by three. Meghan Goff, sophomore guard, would then sink a pair of free throws to make it 13-12 Friends. The Falcons would score on their next possession before another Goff free throw made it 15-13. Hannah Ferguson, junior center, would tie the game with a basket in the paint. Julia Nygard would then score five straight points to extend Bethany’s lead to 20-15. Back to back three’s by the Falcons would make it 21-20. Halei Wortham would put Bethany back on top with an and one to make it 23-21 Swedes. Friends would tie the game but Wortham would answer with a three to put Bethany up 26-23 with a minute to go in the half. Friends would score the final four points of the half to go into the locker room up 27-26.
Friends would split a pair of free throws to open the half before Autumn Garrett scored four straight points in the paint to give Bethany College a 30-28 advantage. The Swedes would extend the lead out to eight on consecutive baskets by Garrett, Vasha Moore, and Hannah Ferguson. Friends would cut the lead to five with a three point play by Khadijah Miller. Halei Wortham would push Bethany back out in front 38-31 with a midrange jumper. Following a pair of free throws for the Falcons Vasha Moore would score inside to make it 40-33. The Falcons would close the quarter on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 40 heading into the fourth quarter.
Friends would open the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to make it 53-42 with 3:22 remaining. Halei Wortham would get it back to nine on a pair of free throws before Friends would score on an offensive rebound by Tiffany Hurd to put them back up eleven. Hannah Ferguson would sink a free throw with 2:28 remaining to provide the final score of 55-45 as both teams displayed tough defense down the stretch.
Halei Wortham led the Swedes with 13 points on the night followed by Vasha Moore, Julia Nygard, and Autumn Garrett who all had 8 points. Garrett led the Swedes with 5 assists on the evening and collected a team high 3 steals. Vasha Moore and Hannah Ferguson both had double figure rebounding numbers finishing with 12 and 10 rebounds on the night.
Bethany shot just 31.4% from the field and 30.8% from three for the night while holding the Falcons to 37% from the field and 38.5% from three. Friends held a 40-34 advantage on the glass. Bethany forced 19 Friends turnovers while having 16 of their own.
Up Next . . .
The Swedes will travel to McPherson, Kan. on Saturday to take on the Bulldogs of McPherson College. The KCAC matchup is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM as Bethany looks to avenge a 60-58 loss from December 16.
