After a frustrating season opener last Saturday, the Bethel College women’s basketball team responded in a big way Tuesday night, soundly defeating the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL) by a score of 91-66.

Bethel scorched the nets in the opening stanza, led by the hot hand of Heather Seyfred, who connected on 8 of 13 from the floor, including 3 of 6 from behind the arc to lead the Lady Pilots with 22 points in the first half. Sophomore transfer Baysia Cox, of Niles, added 10 points in support on 4 of 5 shooting. As a team, Bethel shot 59 percent in the opening half and forced 19 Saints turnovers. At the intermission break, BC led by a score of 54-37.

Bethel continued to roll in the second half as Bekah Basinger joined the scoring mix, finishing the game with 14 points. Cox finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, while first time starters, sophomores Alyssa Toupin and Lindsay Rich combined for 16 points and 13 rebounds, each scoring 8 points in the game. Mandy Yoder dished out 8 assists and Seyfred led all scorers with 31 points for the game.

“This was a great way for our team to respond after the frustration and disappointment of our first game,” said Bethel coach Jody Martinez. “It was nice to see us get after it tonight with our defensive effort. We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball (22 turnovers) and defensive rebounding (gave up 19 offensive boards). The starters did a great job of setting the tone and the bench came in and played hard. We have a lot ways we can improve and we’ll keep working hard as we head to Kentucky for our next two games this weekend,” added Martinez.

The NAIA DII No. 18 Lady Pilots improved to 1-1 on the season as they head to Berea, KY to face Calumet College on Friday and Berea College on Saturday. The Lady Pilots next home action will be Monday, November 8, when they host Aquinas College at the Wiekamp Center.