Women struggle down low, men unable to find rhythm as Bethel basketball swept by Ottawa
Women struggle down low, men unable to find rhythm as Bethel basketball swept by Ottawa
Both teams will now travel to Leavenworth on Wednesday to face Saint Mary.
On Saturday at Thresher Gym, both Bethel basketball teams hosted Ottawa in KCAC play. The women fell, 83-76, and the men came up short, 91-80.
Thresher women falter down low — and down the stretch
For the Bethel (6-15, 4-12) women, Saturday’s result was a direct correlation of their most glaring weaknesses throughout the season: the inability to rebound and defend in the paint.
Ottawa’s (13-9, 9-7) 6-foot-3 Nicole Brown shot 10-for-17 from the floor to lead all scorers with 26 points. The Threshers’ only response on the scoreboard came in the form of a 36-point combined effort between Troi Lucas (22) and Caryn Yoder (14). It wasn’t enough, though, as Brown converted time and again down low when Bethel needed defensive stops the most, and shooters on the perimeter stepped up elsewhere.
The 83-76 loss marks the fourth straight for the Threshers.
Bethel opened the game scorching hot from the field in a barrage led by Lucas, which lasted throughout the first half. When the buzzer sounded on the first quarter, Brianna Clark nailed a three-pointer on the run to hand the Threshers the lead, 22-21, as the team entered the following period shooting at a 60% clip. By halftime, Bethel held a 43-41 advantage, with both teams keeping up the pace.
That pace for both teams — and more so for the Threshers than the Braves — nosedived in the third quarter. Bethel shot an abysmal 4-for-12, scoring just 11 points to Ottawa’s 18 in those 10 minutes. The Braves won the slugfest that would end up being the deciding factor, even though the Threshers’ hot shooting would return in the fourth quarter.
When the clock struck all-zeroes, Bethel had been outscored in the paint, 38-26, and beaten on second-chance points, 18-5. Those discrepancies alone were enough to push the road team over the top in yet another gut-wrenching defeat for second-year head coach Derrick Pringle’s group.
Josie Stupey, Parker Schroeder, and Carley Robb led the Threshers in rebounding with five each. Schroeder, Lucas, and Yoder each had a team-high four assists. Bethel will be back in action — and seeking its first conference win since Jan. 18 — on Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. in Leavenworth to take on Saint Mary.
Thresher men unable to find a rhythm in critical moments
It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at the box score to determine that it was a rather unusual evening for the Bethel (12-9, 10-6) men at Thresher Gym on Saturday.
On Thursday, head coach Jayson Artaz’s team was busy knocking off Oklahoma Wesleyan, the second-ranked team in the NAIA. On Saturday, fifth-year senior and second-highest scorer Clifford Byrd II finished a forgetful outing with just eight points off 33% accuracy from the floor. Three-point aces Bryant Mocaby and Harper Jonas shot 2-for-7 and 2-for-8 from downtown, respectively.
As a team, the Threshers were out-shot, out-rebounded, and simply outclassed in the most critical moments of the contest by a scrappy Ottawa (10-12, 7-9) group — which resulted in a 91-80 upset in favor of the Braves.
“The first five minutes and the last five minutes of both halves absolutely killed us,” Artaz said. “We gave up 64 points in that net 20-minute stretch of basketball. It's almost like we got a little complacent. They hit a couple of threes and I felt like we were panicked.”
Ottawa jumped out of gates quickly, grabbing a 16-6 lead behind a pair of three-pointers from Deondre Buggage. Bethel quickly replied with a 12-2 run to knot it up at 18 before eventually leading by nine, 38-29, with just over five minutes left in the first half. The Braves countered with a 15-7 burst — including a buzzer-beating layup — to close the Thresher lead to just one at the break, 45-44.
“Instead of like dictating defensively, we were reacting,” Artaz said. “When we start reacting, we give up open shots and just let them line up a bunch of threes. When you let a good team that has a bunch of individual scorers get easy looks, it’s super, super frustrating.”
Those deep looks continued to line up for Ottawa on one end while Bethel couldn’t get the lid off of the basket on the other. The Braves regained the lead within the first few possessions of the second half and eventually led by as much as 10 midway through. And whether it was shots from outside the arc, mid-range jumpers, or even layups, the Threshers couldn’t find any sort of rhythm to establish control.
By the end, Ottawa had shot at a 45.5% clip to Bethel’s 38.6-percent. The Braves had tallied six more rebounds and outscored the Threshers on turnovers and second chances, 15-10. The performance adds to a quirky trend Artaz noted to his team recently.
“For whatever reason, we play better on the road right now than we do at home,” Artaz said. “I don't know what it is. We’ve talked about it with the guys. A road trip might be the best thing for us. … We’ve got to go out and play our style of basketball.”
Bethel will have a chance to do just that when it travels to Leavenworth on Feb. 1 for a matchup with Saint Mary. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. The Threshers are 6-3 on the road and 4-5 at home this season.
“If we don't come ready to play on Wednesday, I don't think we have any heart at all,” Artaz said. “We’ve gotta get our guys locked in to what they do well. Sometimes, we get away from the things that that individual player does well and try to do more. I think it's got us in some tough spots.”