Fifty-six points coming from the Bethel (18-3, 10-1 SSAC) bench was too much for Faulkner (11-9, 4-7 SSAC) to handle at the Crisp Arena in McKenzie, Tenn. Thursday night as the Lady Eagles fell to the No. 16 ranked Lady Wildcats 96-40 in an SSAC matchup.

The two sides traded leads for the first nine minutes before a pair of Tasia Jones three pointers put the hosts ahead for good as Bethel outscored Faulkner 56-13 from the bench. "They shot it well and we didn't," head coach Reed Sutton said. "In the second half their bench really came on strong. Our guys were competing well, but they hit shots we didn't."

Eight of the 13 Faulkner buckets came from behind the arc with Ashlyn Adkins (SO/Locust Fork, Ala.) knocking down half of them. Adkins finished the night with 14 points to lead the team. Valentina Klocker (FR/Salzburg, Austria) concluded her first career start just shy of a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. Laura Jones (FR/Bonifay, Fla.) added seven points off the bench. "Laura has become more aggressive and solid defensively over the last two games," Sutton said. "She sees the opportunity and is working hard defensively and she can get shots up. Valentina played more aggressively and had a much better second half after a rough first half."

"When you turn it over 20 times and allow 22 offensive rebounds, you're not going to beat anybody," Sutton said. Only five second half turnovers was hopefully a nice glimpse into the future. We executed a bit better but we couldn't buy a bucket in the second half."

The Lady Eagles will look to bounce back Saturday afternoon in Mississippi as they face Blue Mountain in an SSAC contest at 2 p.m. Faulkner won the first meeting 70-61 on Dec. 1. "Blue Mountain is playing great," Sutton said. "Despite their record, they've been competing this season and are leading the nation in free throw percentage; we have to prevent their jump shot and cannot foul them. It's their homecoming and they're coming off a win so it will be a tough game."