York, Neb. – The Bethany College Swedes secured their fifth consecutive win on the season and ninth consecutive win against the York College Panthers in today’s matchup by a final score of 83-65.
The Swedes opened the game by exchanging baskets with York. Trailing 8-9 with 3:49 to play Paige Talbott, junior guard, would find Hannah Brandl, junior center inside for a layup against the York zone to give the Swedes the lead at 10-9, the Swedes would never trail again. The Swedes would extend the lead to 14-9 on a pair of layups from Meghan Goff, sophomore guard, and Vasha Moore, junior forward. York would counter with a pair of baskets of their own to pull it to within two at 14-12. Hannah Brandl would answer with an old fashioned three point play off of an assist from Halei Wortham, senior guard, to give Bethany a 17-12 advantage after the first quarter.
The Swedes jumped out to a 10-0 run to begin the second quarter of play thanks to four points each from Hannah Ferguson and Vasha Moore, as well as a pair of free throws from Paige Talbott. After a quick comeback attempt by York trimmed the Swedes lead to 11 points at 33-22 Bethany would again lockdown the Panthers to go on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 42-22. Halei Wortham would answer a pair of York baskets with 5 points of her own to end the half connecting on a three pointer and then on a runner in the lane with 11 seconds remaining in the half to give Bethany a 47-27 halftime lead.
Bethany would push the lead to 22 on a Hannah Ferguson bucket to open the second half before York would rally to trim the deficit to 15 points. Clinging to a 51-36 lead with 4:39 remaining in the quarter Taryn Kuhn, sophomore forward, would sink a pair of free throws to ignite a 6-0 run to push the lead back out to 21 points at 57-36. York would connect on back to back three’s to end the quarter and bring the score to 59-44.
The Panthers would rally to cut the Swedes lead to just 10 points with 6:26 remaining in the game when they connected on a layup to make it 64-54. The Swedes would answer with a 9-4 run to push the lead back out to 17 points, thanks to five points from Autumn Garrett and four points from Hannah Ferguson. As the Panthers began fouling to try and conserve time the Swedes would make 8 straight free throws to close them out down the stretch and secure the 83-65 victory.
Three Swedes found their way into double figures today led by Hannah Ferguson with 16 points. Halei Wortham added 14 points and Vasha Moore finished with 12 points. Hannah Brandl added a career high 7 points for Bethany College. Wortham led the Swedes in assists with 5. Julia Nygard, senior guard, would finish with 9 rebounds to lead the Swedes in that category.
Bethany finished the night shooting 47.4% from the field and 27.3% from three, they held York to 44.4% from the field and 40.7% from three. Bethany connected on 23 of their 27 free throw attempts to finish at 85.2% from the charity stripe. The Swedes collected 10 steals on the night and forced York into 24 turnovers. Bethany would outrebound York by a margin of 34-24.
Up Next . . .
The Swedes will take on the Threshers of Bethel College on Saturday, December 12th. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 PM.
