The Bethany College Swedes hosted the Southwestern College Moundbuilders, Saturday, December 14th in Hahn Gymnasium on Ugly Christmas Sweater Night. The Swedes were coming off of a close win over McPherson College after a disastrous first quarter Wednesday night and hoping to add to their conference record of 4-2. The Moundbuilders came into the contest with a conference record of 1-4.
1st: The first quarter took off after the Swedes came out of the gate with a 7-0 run with over eight minutes to play. The Moundbuilders had to quickly find a way to contain Bethany’s explosive offense in hopes of staying in the game. Southwestern pieced together a string of successful shots and were back within three of the Swedes, 11-8, with 3:27 left on the clock. Bethany had other plans, however, and went on a run to finish out the quarter and lead by seven heading into the second quarter, 15-8.
2nd: Bethany continued to bombard the glass and the Moundbuilders found themselves down by fourteen, 22-8 with 7:45 still to play. With time running down, the pace of the game slowed allowing Southwestern to slowly chip away at the Swedes’ lead but it wouldn’t matter. The Swedes would go into halftime with twelve-point lead, 31-19.
3rd: Coming out of the half, Bethany continued to run a fast-paced offense which kept the Moundbuilders from gaining momentum. The Swedes slowly tacked on a few more points to their lead, making it seventeen, 49-32 as both teams head into the fourth quarter.
4th: Southwestern would try and make for a comeback, shooting their best in the final quarter and scoring an additional 24 points. But the Swedes had an answer to this and also shot their best, scoring an additional 21 points. The final score, Swedes-70, Moundbuilders-56. With this win, Bethany now is 5-2 in conference play with a four-game winning streak.
Notable stats include, Jaden Newfarmer with 12 points and 5 rebounds, Kisa Unruh with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals, Colbi Rignell with 11 points and 2 assists, Kylie Dunn with 2 blocks and 8 points, and Ray Richardson with 4 assists.
Up Next…
Bethany College will be on the road for an exhibition game in Colorado, taking on the Colorado Christian University Cougars, December 19th, starting at 5pm MST.B
