Dec. 30—Bethel got a strong start against Georgetown, Texas during their first-round contest Wednesday night at the 2022 Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic.

The Lady Wildcats finished the game even stronger and rallied past their Texas counterparts for a 53-41 victory inside East Central University's Kerr Activities Center.

Bethel, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, improved to 7-1 on the year, while Georgetown fell to 11-8. The Lady Eagles were playing in their first contest since Dec. 16 and had only one practice during that span — a Monday workout at Byng High School.

The Lady Wildcats trailed 37-34 heading into the final period but scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to speed past Georgetown.

"It was a good win. It was good to get one under our belt the first time being here for these kids and me as a head coach," Bethel head coach Tara Satterfield told The Ada News. "We had some nerves but I felt like we worked them out."

Bethel standout Parker Stevenson hit a 3-pointer to open start the late run and Brooklyn Duff and Josie Megehee converted back-to-back, old-fashioned three-point plays to get the Lady Wildcats rolling.

"That was huge and gave us some momentum and we were able to seal it with our defense and rebounding," said Satterfield.

Bethel raced out to a 15-6 lead to start the game before the Lady Eagles scored 20 points in the second period to get within 29-26 by halftime. Georgetown then limited the explosive Bethel offense to just five points in the third period to grab its three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Josie Megehee, a sophomore, led the BHS attack, finishing with 23 points and eight rebounds. Stevenson added a "quiet" 12 points, while Hanna Davidson just missed double figures with eight.

Duff scored six points but drew an incredible five offensive fouls on defense for the Lady Wildcats.

"That kid takes so much pride on that end of the floor and takes so much pride taking charges," Satterfield said. "Her goal is to lead the state in taking charges. That's what she wants to do. She's tough. I told her it's like a slam dunk in boys basketball. It gets your teammates excited. It gets the crowd excited. The bench over here gets fired up. she's a competitor that will do whatever it takes to win for her team."

Georgetown got 10 points from Ainsley Pelczar and eight from Taylor Meynes. Bella Dabbs hit a pair of 3-pointers for her six points and Katie Peiffer also had six for the Lady Eagles.