Sixth-ranked Lady Bobcats win sixth game of season, Bethune has career high 18 points

The Georgia Northwestern Lady Bobcats, tied for sixth in the latest USCAA Division II national poll, kept up their hot start to the 2017-18 season with a 68-39 victory over the Covenant College junior varsity team Tuesday night at the Rossville Athletic Center.

The win moved the Lady Bobcats to 6-1 overall and gave them a sweep of the Lady Scots in the season series.

Georgia Northwestern, playing once again without injured center Madison Lewis, led 36-18 at intermission and never looked back as they bounced back from their only loss of the year at Warren Wilson College this past Friday.

Freshman guard Jayla Stone torched Covenant with 21 points and collected eight steals, while freshman Taylor Bethune poured in a career-high 18 points and collected five rebounds.

Bethune, a recent graduate of Trion High School said the transition to college ball from high school hasn’t been difficult for her, but, “there’s a big difference between high school and college ball. It’s just more physical and fast paced plus we have 4 10 minutes quarters so it’s a little longer game. Our coach definitely has us in shape though so that makes it easier as well.”

When asked about her standout game she replied, “it was a good game for me. I play inside and outside because of an injured post so I was able to get good looks from everywhere.”

Freshman Tori Harvey filled up the stat sheet with eight points, six boards, five assists and three steals, while junior Katy Phillips, who missed the first meeting with Covenant due to an illness, added four points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Also adding to the win was Christina DeSalvo (8 points, 7 rebounds), Mia Clark (7 points) and Tori Hall (2 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals).

Heather Andrews had 16 points for the Lady Scots.

The Lady Bobcats will be back in action at home on Friday on the opening night of the Tim Walthour Memorial Tournament at the Rossville Athletic Center. Georgia Northwestern will take on Trinity Baptist College from Jacksonville, Florida at 6 p.m. in a rematch from the first game of the season. The Lady Bobcats won that meeting, 72-60, in Florida.

Lewis is expected to be back for the tournament. The 6-foot-3 center had 27 points and 19 rebounds in the teams’ first meeting.

Hiwassee College and Welch College will play in the day’s first game at 2 p.m. The women’s consolation game will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, while the championship game is slated for 2:30 p.m.