BETHANY — For the first time in a few years, Bethany had a different look Tuesday night (Dec. 02) in its opener with Crossings Christian.

Gone were Kayten Donley, Keziah Lofton and Zya Vann. The trio is playing Division I college basketball.

Bethany coach Eric Sailer thinks his team had to adjust to the new reality of playing without the superstar trio.

“I think they kind of realized that we need to slow down and we need to think the game a little bit better than what we were doing,” Sailer said.

After a slow start, Bethany ran past the Knights, 67-41.

Crossings (0-1 this season and 8-18 a year ago), stayed with the Bronchos and led for a good portion of the first quarter.

Trailing 12-11 in the second quarter, senior Reese Harris hit a 3-pointer with. Bethany never trailed after that point.

“I think they were trying to ram their head into a brick wall at the beginning of the game,” Sailer said. “We made some silly decisions with the ball.”

At halftime, Sailer emphasized getting the offense into a rhythm with early passes and finding open shooters.

“I think that things kind of slowed down a little bit for us, and then we were able to open up and hit some shots.”

After hitting 3-of-13 from the 3-point line in the first half, Bethany started to get hot, hitting 9-of-18 from beyond the arc in the second half.

“If I would have known we’d shot the 3-pointers that many times, I probably would have been screaming them, ‘stop, stop, stop,’ ” Sailer said with a smile. “In the second half, they were going in. The bucket was big for sure.”

Junior Camryn Regier paced the Bronchos with 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Regier had five rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal.

Regier accomplished that while having to sit on the bench in the first quarter after two early fouls.

“Cam is always gonna be hyper-aggressive.”

Sailer is looking for his team leader to cut down on the defensive fouls.

“I think that’s just growing pains that she needs to realize. that she needs to be a little less handsy, move those feet, play defense with your hips,” Sailer said. “That’ll come, and hopefully she’ll catch it and mature a little bit and make better decisions defensively.”

Junior Ali Linn scored 10 points with two treys and four free throws. Linn struggled from the field (2-of-7) but had five rebounds, a block and three steals.

“(Ali’s) trying to get those game legs back under her. 
She did some positive things.”

A fun moment for Linn came as time expired in the third quarter. She stole the ball, ran down the floor and drained a 3-pointer halfway between midcourt and the top of the key. After the buzzer beater, she leaped in the air as teammates mobbed her. The shot extended Bethany’s lead to 43-25.

Freshman Morgan McNutt made an impact with nine points. She was 3-of-5 from the 3-point line. She also had two assists and a steal.

Senior Reese Harris scored eight points with two treys.

Sailer was especially proud of Harris, who returned after recovering from her second ACL injury.

“Just to see how she has battled back through the adversity and not given up, It’s just tremendous” Sailer said.

Senior McKenna Calderon also scored eight points with two treys.

Sailer also praised senior Madison Bibbs for good minutes. Bibbs scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting. She had two assists and a steal.

Sophomore Kamryn Donley scored four points off the bench.

Sailer was going to take Donley out of the game at one point after a turnover but liked her response on the court.

“We always talk about it in our program – be a bounce back baller,” Sailer saiid. “That means that when you go out and you make a mistake, don’t hang your head, don’t feel sorry for yourself. 
Sprint back down, give a turnover, you know, make an assist.

“I was about to send somebody in and she goes and gets a steal, gets a rebound, pushes the ball, then transition, makes an assist. That’s what we want.”

Bethany had 10 players score in the win. Sailer that balance is “hard to stop.”

“I always tell our kids,’it’s really easy to defend one scorer.’ “

UP NEXT

After the opener, Bethany has a week off. The Bronchos’ Friday game with Star-Spencer was canceled due to a change in the Bobcats’ schedule.

Bethany will open Western Athletic Conference play Dec. 9 at Kingfisher (0-1).

Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m.

The Yellowjackets opened the season with 59-50 loss at 2A Merritt.

 (PHOTO: Kristie Escoe/Life in Action Photography)

	1	2	3	4	F
Crossings Christian (0-1)	9	7	9	16	41
Bethany (1-0)	11	16	16	24	67