BETHEL ACRES – Bethel made easy work in a pair of 3A District Championships with two easy wins over Marietta to advance to the winners’ bracket of a Regional Tournament in Bethel later this week.
Lady Wildcats 70, Marietta 41
Lexi Tucker wasted no time getting the Lady Wildcats on the board with a 3-pointer Saturday night. But Bethel got five 3-pointers from four different players in a 21-7 first quarter. Bailey Tucker, Ava Gascon and Kinley Bowles added shots from behind the arc to extend the Lady Wildcats’ early lead.
The second quarter featured Bethel figuring out that Marietta wasn’t getting back on defense quickly and Gascon broke away on Marietta shots and Bethel’s rebounders would find her for three easy buckets.
Bailey Tucker hit three free throws after being fouled on a late 3-point attempt to give Bethel its 34-9 halftime lead.
The third quarter ended with Bethel up 52-25 and the final score was 70-41.
Lexi Tucker led the way with 21 points and Gascon had three 3-pointers and 19 points. Bailey Tucker added 11 points and Bowles scored nine. Brylan Allen-Webb scored four and Layla Menhusen added three. Jailey Hanmer scored one for Bethel.
The Lady Wildcats will host Chandler, which beat Beggs Friday, at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Wildcats 67, Marietta 41
Zack Jennings and Ryder Davenport both took advantage of assists from Darius Cheatham to drop five first quarter points and the Wildcats jumped out to a 16-5 lead after one.
Austin Brown and Jennings each hit 3-pointers to start the scoring in the second half and Jennings answered Marietta’s first second-quarter points with another long three to help Bethel take a 20-point
lead at 29-9 early in the second.
At the half, they led 40-11 and the game was basically put away. The 10-15 Wildcats record doesn’t do a good job of showing their improvement this year because of their strength of schedule with two games against 2A No. 1 Dale, and games against North Rock Creek, McLoud, Rejoice Christian and Jones.
The battle tested Wildcats won’t find things getting any easier this week as they host 3A No. 8 Chandler in Regional action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Jennings knocked down four 3-pointers on his way to 20 points to lead the Wildcats. Cheatham scored 11 in addition to several assists and Davenport added 10 off the bench. Gavin Lynch had seven points and Roger Brooks scored six. Brown added five points and Maddox Davis scored four. Stonie Holliday and Kouper Doughty each added two.
