NORTH NEWTON, Kan. – The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) season is coming to a close for the Southwestern College women's basketball team, who battled the Bethel College Threshers in hostile territory on Wednesday night. The road battle consisted of three rather evenly played quarters and one that was not as competitive. The opening frame took the cake as the least competitive SC effort, as Bethel use the early lead to sink Southwestern by a final score of 66-46.

The Moundbuilder offense really struggled to create any consistent scoring rhythm in the opening quarter, as they shot just 3-of-12 from the field and did not connect on a three-point shot. Meanwhile, the Threshers were not outstanding from the field, but did hit 6-of-16 in the period. They also nailed a trio of three-pointers. It was a 16-7 Lady Builder deficit after the first.

A better effort was put forth in the second, as SC was able to improve to a 4-of-12 clip in the stanza. Bethel hit on 8-of-21 in the quarter, furthering their advantage over the Builders. Southwestern did knock down three free throws in the period, while Bethel abstained from converting on any shots from the charity stripe. An 18-12 score over the course of the period put Bethel up 34-19 at the half.

Southwestern continued to battle in the third, putting together a 5-of-20 shooting line. Bethel also made just five shots in the quarter on 5-of-16 shooting. The only difference between the two sides was that the Threshers made four free throws and the Builder made three, giving the home squad a 15-14 advantage over the course of the 10-minute period. The 49-33 deficit would have to be made up by SC in the fourth quarter.

A final frame in which Bethel shot 6-of-12, and the Lady Builders converted on 4-of-14, sent SC home with a 66-46 loss to the Threshers.

D'Shonda Hunt was the team's leading scorer, as she had 19 points on the evening. Nine of her points came at the free-throw line, as she went 9-of-10 on freebies. She shot 5-of-15 overall from the field. Airalyn Frame was second on the team with eight points on 3-of-10 from the field, and Madi Jones shot 3-of-5 from the floor to tally six points.

Heather Chiesi, Haven Matthews, and Kimberly Duhon were each able to dish out two assists in the loss, while the only remaining assists came from Hunter Garcia.

Hunt led the squad with six rebounds, while the second-highest total went to Chiesi, with five. Garcia and Jones had four rebounds each, and Frame and Matthews both contributed three backboards to the effort.

Both Frame and Duhon were pick-pockets in this battle, as they tallied three steals, apiece. Matthews had two steals, while Hunt, Garcia, Chiesi and Cydney Bundy grabbed one theft. Jones was the lone Builder to block a Thresher shot in the bout.

Southwestern's (4-23, 1-20 KCAC) final game of the 2022-23 season approaches on Saturday, Feb. 18 in Wichita against the Friends University Falcons. The last team these two squads played, the Lady Builders battled hard and fell 60-57 in OT in Winfield. The current squad will have a chance to flip the script this time around to end the campaign on a high note.

--buildersports.com--