It has been a while since Bethel has won double figure games during a girls’ basketball season. On Saturday, the Bees earned that accomplishment with a 36-25 win against a Troy Christian, who suffered only their fifth loss of the season.

“We don’t have that go-to person, but we have kids who hustle, scrap and get after it,” said Bethel coach Mark Mays. “Once we develop a couple of scorers can take over a game that different, but now we do what we can as a team and get the scoring when we need it.”

Bethel set the tone early, getting a big lead after the opening period of play. Troy Christian scored the opening basket when Kathryn Lee found the hoop. That would be the lone offense in the game for Troy Christian.

Four minutes into the game, Bethel led 8-2, including a three-pointer from Kayla Grable and an old-fashioned three from Becky Schweiterman to build the early lead.

Bethel increased their lead to 14-2 after the opening quarter, before the Eagles broke their scoreless drought Hailey Peters scored four points to open the second period to cut their deficit to 16-6, but neither team scored much for the rest of the half, as the Bees enjoyed a 20-8 lead at the intermission.

Both teams played evenly in the third, as the Bees headed to the fourth with a 26-14 lead.

In the final eight minutes, Bethel maintained their pressure and kept their double figure lead, as they never were pressured.

“Our inexperience at the guards really showed tonight,” said Troy Christian coach Dick Steineman. “With four minutes left in the game, we are down ten and we are still in the game. We also didn’t shoot the ball well.”

“I told the kids this is our real blemish on the schedule, a team maybe we shouldn’t have lost to, and after 20 games that isn’t bad.”

Mays also knows that it has been a special year for these kids, after the program only won four games on varsity last year. It has been a nice turnaround.

“My goal as a coach is to have double digits in wins, and this is huge,” the Bethel coach said. “We went through a spurt in our season where we really struggled with Tri-Village, Newton and Covington. We have a theme this year of The Road to Ten, and we are at ten now.”

Bethel was led by Emily Crase with eight, Grable added seven, Alaina Hawthorn had six. Peters led Troy Christian with nine points and 10 rebounds, Lee added five points and 10 rebounds.