Leading at halftime, the Mount Vernon Nazarene Lady Cougars ran into a Bethel buzz saw in the second half and fell by 16 points Feb. 9 at Ariel Arena.
Bethel came into the contest sitting in eighth place in the conference with a 9-16 overall record and was just 4-9 in conference. MVNU came in at 14-11 and 8-5 and looked to bring home a home victory.
Despite the disparity in records, Bethel did not back down from MVNU. The Lady Cougars took a 37-35 lead into halftime, but it was all Bethel in the second half as it outscored MVNU 51-33. A quick 8-0 run by the Pilots rattled the Lady Cougars coming out of the break, and MVNU never recovered. MVNU scored just eight points in the third compared to 28 for the visitors. The Lady Cougars struggled to find the best shot offensively, as they shot just 35.5% for the game and 18.2% from three.
With the loss, MVNU fell to fifth in the Crossroads League. With only three regular season games left, the Lady Cougars will need some help from around the league to host a Crossroads League Quarterfinals game come tournament time.
On the bright side, Maggie Coe led MVNU scorers with 25 points. Coe was 10-for-16 from the field. Elizabeth Monk had a double-double of 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds. Monk also had four assists.
