Bethel women punch ticket to KCAC postseason with win over Sterling
Richards leads the team with 24 points; Locke records first double-double of the season in win.
The Bethel women’s basketball team defeated Sterling, 80-70, on Saturday in a battle for the last KCAC postseason tournament spot. The teams were tied for the last spot going into the game and the winner would most likely advance.
Despite their rough second-half shooting percentage from the field, the Threshers finished the game on top due to their stout defense and rebounding, interim head coach Rocky Lamar’s favorite recipe for success. Bethel forced the Warriors into 26 turnovers and scored 32 of their 80 points off of turnovers while also pulling in 17 offensive boards and 22 second-chance points.
“Our defense has gotten significantly better throughout the season and I think we did a great job getting offensive boards and getting second-chance points,” said freshman guard Kendall Locke, from Azle, Tex.
Lamar echoed that sentiment from Locke:
“We wanted to apply pressure to their guards and attack the boards,” said Lamar. “I think we did a pretty good job of doing that.”
Locke has been a strong player all year for the Threshers, and recorded her first double-double for the team this year, with 21 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and four steals, only two assists shy of a triple-double.
Natalie Richards led the way in scoring once again for Bethel, netting 24 points on 10-16 shooting from the field. Madyson McKinzie also had another near double-double, with 12 points and nine rebounds in the contest.
“We had to mentally, physically, and emotionally be tough,” said McKinzie, from Dumas Ark., on the big win for the Threshers. “We were picked to be 13th [in the KCAC preseason], and this was our chance to prove everyone wrong. We left with the win, so I would say having this mindset worked out great for us.”
Bethel has completed their regular season schedule, and they are now guaranteed only one more game. Needless to say, Lamar and his team are doing everything they can to be prepared for the upcoming game.
“We must attack the boards against Tabor and allow them no second shots,” said Lamar, re-emphasizing the Bethel mentality from all year.
The Threshers are heading into a matchup against the one-seed Tabor College in their first round of the conference tournament. While many people have doubted the eighth-seeded Threshers, they are excited and rearing to go ahead of their upcoming matchup.
“The approach for moving into playoffs this week is to shock everyone,” said Locke. “We all want it bad enough and never give up when things get tough.”
With a new coach for the year and the odds stacked against them, the Threshers made the postseason after not making it last year.
“The mindset [is] ‘now or never’ and we just need to continue to play hard and crash the boards,” said McKinzie.
With this mindset in tow, the Threshers are looking to shake things up in the postseason tournament, and many people will be tuning in on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Hillsboro to see just what Bethel is capable of.