Dec 03, 2011
Sparked by a 31-2 advantage in bench scoring, the Bethany College women's basketball team (3-3) improved to 2-0 in the PAC for the first time since 2006-07 with a 61-35 triumph over visiting Geneva (1-5, 0-2) Saturday afternoon.
The BC starters did most of the damage early on, with 15 points coming from the starting five in a 20-3 run to open the game. The Golden Tornadoes did not hit their first field goal until the 9:05 mark of the opening period and it was answered immediately by a lay-in from sophomore Taylor Verrico and a trey from senior Audra Droginske to give the home team the 17-point lead.
Bethany used the efforts of a tough defense to build a 29-14 halftime lead. Eighteen Geneva turnovers were converted into 14 points, which equaled the output of the Golden Tornadoes. It was the lowest point total allowed by BC since holding Franciscan to 12 in a 72-28 victory on Nov. 30, 2006.
The Bison reserves sparked the key run in the second half that put the game away. A 15-1 run highlighted by 13 markers from non-starters took the Green and White to a 52-22 lead with 8:30 left. Verrico began the surge with a three and ended it with two free throws and in between, junior Carly Garneau buried two jumpers to help give Bethany its largest lead of the game.
By the end of the contest, the Bison had harassed Geneva into 25 turnovers and limited the GTs to 27 percent shooting (13-48), the lowest percentage by a BC opponent since Chatham shot 21 percent in a Bethany win in Feb., 2009.
Leading the scorers for the Bison were Verrico with a career-high 13 and senior Kelly Zogran with 10. Sophomore Skylar Williams just missed by tallying nine points and junior Kayla Taormina only had four points, but set team-bests with five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Geneva's offense was led by Beth DeLuca with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Chelsea D'Urso with 12 markers.
Bethany will be back in action on Wednesday with a road game at Chatham. If the Bison can come away with a victory over the Cougars (2-4, 0-2), it would be their first 3-0 start in PAC play since 2003-04, which was the last year BC won the conference title. Wednesday's tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.