Second quarter struggles loom for Bethel women against McPherson
Second quarter struggles loom for Bethel women against McPherson
The Threshers were led by Stupey as she scored 17 out of her team-high 22 in the first quarter.
The Bethel women’s basketball team lost their fourth straight game on Wednesday night versus McPherson, 82-77, behind a weak second quarter for the Threshers.
The Threshers started red-hot on offense, thanks to Josie Stupey scoring 17 of her team-high 22 points in the first quarter, including four 3-pointers. Unfortunately, Bethel could not keep up this production, only hitting 18% of shots from the field in the second quarter, as they were outscored by 11 in the second frame.
“We have to guard, rebound, and run the floor,” said interim head coach Rocky Lamar on the Threshers’ recent struggles.
It wasn’t all negative for the Threshers, as their defense forced the Bulldogs into 18 turnovers. Bethel also outscored McPherson by seven in the second half.
The Threshers shot 42% from the floor, with only two players in double figures: Stupey and freshman Madyson McKinzie. Kendall Locke led the team in rebounds and assists, with eight and five, respectively.
Despite recent struggles, the Threshers are not out of playoff contention, sitting in ninth place in the KCAC, with a conference record of 6-8. With 8 remaining games in their schedule, there is plenty of time for Bethel to get back on track.
One way to do this according to Lamar is to: “Get better at doing the dirty work that all good teams are good at doing.”
Lamar believes that if his team can get better at “doing the dirty work,” then they have a solid chance to make the KCAC tournament. Some of the dirty work was already mentioned by Lamar, including defensive stops and rebounds, which have been hard to come by for the Threshers in the past few weeks.
One thing is for sure. Don’t write this Thresher team off, they know that they have time left to improve, and they are hungry to get back to winning ways.
The Threshers look to do just that on Wednesday in Lindsborg as they take on Bethany at 6 p.m.