Bethel Stops Tigers in MSC Semifinals

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The fifth-seeded Georgetown College women's basketball team (22-8) lost to top-seeded Bethel University (25-4), 75-68, in the semifinals of the Mid-South Conference tournament in Bowling Green Arena on Sunday afternoon. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Jordan Day scored the first four points for the Tigers, who struggled to score in the opening frame. Kayra Freeman added seven in the first to help the Tigers, who trailed 24-13 after the first 10 minutes. Bethel came out hitting nearly everything it took at the beginning, sinking five 3-pointers and shooting nearly 50% from the field.

Bethel sank two 3-pointers to start the second quarter and grew its lead to as many as 19 in the second quarter as the Tigers hit just five field goals in the quarter. Each starter sank at least one shot as Georgetown trailed 41-24 at the break.

The starters did all the scoring once again in the third quarter for Georgetown who scored 21 points in the frame. Despite the offensive output, the Wildcats held serve with Georgetown as the top-seed also put up 21 points, making it a 62-45 game heading into the fourth.

Things turned interesting in the fourth. Georgetown outscored Bethel 10-3 in the opening stages as it was Daisy Gale's layup with 6:05 to play that made it a 65-55 game. In total, Georgetown outscored Bethel by 10 in the frame, and with Kayra Freeman's 3-pointer with 2:44 to play, it was just a five-point game. After a Wildcats turnover, Gale hit a layup with 1:46 to play, and it was once again back to a single-possession game. Daysha Reid forced a steal but missed a layup to cut into the deficit further, and Bethel scored to push it back to a five-point game with 36 seconds to go. Georgetown got a layup from Anna Long but came up short in the end, 75-68.

THE TEAM 
Georgetown shot 37.1% from the field. The Tigers were 5-23 (21.7%) from deep and were 17-23 (73.9%) at the free-throw line. BU outrebounded GC, 40-37. The Tigers picked up eight assists and had more steals, 8-3.

THE PLAYERS
* Daisy Gale had a team-high 20 points with six rebounds and four steals.
* Kayra Freeman added 18 points with seven rebounds and three assists.
* Daysha Reid finished with 11 points and two steals.

UP NEXT
The Tigers await their official NAIA tournament fate, which is determined on March 5 at 8:00 p.m.