WICHITA, Kan. – The Bethany Swedes women’s basketball squad was able to pick up a solid 71-68 victory over the Friends Falcons on Thursday night.
The Falcons started thing one off strong kicking their offense off with a 10-4 advantage over the Swedes in the first three minutes of play. Bethany however, then netted a pair of three points to even things back up. After some back and forth, the Swedes went 10-2 run over the last three and a half minutes of the quarter.
Bethany then worked to push their offense in the second quarter, while the Falcons continued to work to keep the Swedes within striking distance. The Swedes were able to grow their lead to as high as eight points but the Falcons were able to cut that advantage to three points by the end of the first half.
The Falcons then started things off in the third quarter with a pair of free throws to bring Bethany within one point. The Swedes were again able to go on an explosive offensive run, this one was 13-3 in their favor to give them a double digit lead over Friends. The Falcons were able to work to cut that lead to seven points as the teams went into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Swedes went to work quickly, again pushing their advantage to double figures. Bethany led the Falcons by a game high of 12 points with just over five minutes left. However, an 8-0 run fueled by all free throws by the Falcons brought the teams back within four points with just over three minutes left to play. The Falcons then worked to cut the Swedes’ lead down to just a single point but with 14 seconds left, the Swedes were able to hold on and pull out the win.
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Friends 94, Bethany 92
The Bethany Swedes men’s basketball team fell in a 94-92 heart breaker on Thursday at no. 22 Friends University.
After the teams traded baskets and the lead, Bethany went on a 9-2 run to take an eight-point lead, their largest in the contest with just six minutes left in the half. However, the Falcons were able to go on a run of their own to take a one-point lead with just under two and a half minutes to play. From there, the teams once again traded baskets, they tied for the sixth time in the contest late in the half and went into the break locked at 43 each.
Isiah Saenz, sophomore guard, kicked things off in the second half netting a three pointer for a Swede lead. However, Friends quickly grabbed the lead and pushed it to as high as nine points during this run. The Swedes then rebounded and got the Falcons back within range. The battle continued for the remainder of the contest, however the Falcons owned the advantage through most of that time. They continued to attempt to pull away from the Swedes but Bethany kept reigning them back in. No matter how hard the Swedes pushed, they were not able to get over the hump and once again take the lead falling in the contest as their buzzer shot attempt was unsuccessful.
