DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Four Bethune-Cookman players scored in double figures as the Lady Wildcats raced to a season-high 88 points in Tuesday evening's 88-46 win over Edward Waters at historic Richard V. Moore Gymnasium.

The Lady Wildcats (3-5) came storming out of the gate, scoring 11 seconds into the contest to spark a 13-2 run over the first two minutes of competition, aided in large part by coupling a heavy press with B-CU's athleticism over the smaller Tigers from Edward Waters College (4-4). 

“We have started out games very slow,” Head Coach Vanessa Blair said. “What I wanted to do was start off a lot more aggressive and that's why we pressed; to get us into a more aggressive mode instead of being on our heels.”

It most definitely paid off for the Lady Wildcats as they quickly built a lead. B-CU let off the gas at times, surrendering too many turnovers, but bounced back with scoring runs of 12-2 and 6-2 to lead by 20 points at the half. 

Taking advantage of the lead, B-CU rotated lineups heavily and spread the minutes around throughout the game, with only one player, center Amanda Hairston, earning over 20 minutes on the floor.

B-CU again nearly doubled up the Tigers in scoring in the second period, coming out of half on an 11-0 run that extended nearly five minutes. The Lady Wildcats controlled the tempo, worked the transition game, and ran away with the game in the 88-46 victory. 

At the heart of B-CU's scoring was junior guard Chastity René Taylor. Despite playing just 20 minutes on the night, Taylor led B-CU in scoring, putting up 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including hitting 2-of-3 from long range.

Tying her career high, Jasmine Evans joined Taylor in double figures with 12 points, sharing the team high with Amanda Hairston for rebounds (8) against EWC. Hairston also logged double figures, hitting 5-of-6 shots for 10 points, in addition to a pair of blocks and a steal. Terrenisha Hollis rounded out the group with 10 points, a stalwart on the defensive end, coming away with a career-high five steals. 

B-CU distributed the ball heavily, shooting a season-high 61.7 percent from field, with 11 Lady Wildcats chipping into the total. B-CU logged 19 assists on the night, the highest for the Lady Wildcats since the Norfolk State game last February at Moore Gym.

“I think it's a combination of the offense being run well and players that were open knocking down shots,” Blair said of the quality numbers against EWC.” 

The Lady Wildcats took advantage of their pressure and EWC miscues, converting turnovers for 33 points, with a large portion of B-CU's 14 fast break points coming from 15 steals in the contest.

“Tonight, defensively we did a good job. We had a goal of holding them under 40, and we just slipped a little bit on that,” Blair said. “We wanted them to be in a defensive mindframe.” 

On the other side of the coin, B-CU committed 26 turnovers against the turnovers; an area that Coach Blair says needs to be addressed.

It was a tough return to Moore Gym for former B-CU assistant coach Charmaine Wilson, facing her former team across the sidelines as Edward Waters' newest leader, falling in the 42-point loss. 

“I'm proud of her,” Blair said. “She's done great in her first couple seasons there. It was great to welcome her back to the place where she really got her start. It was great to see her in that role and she's going to do well.”

The Lady Wildcats return to action again in next week's Hatter Classic at Stetson, facing UNC Asheville and Georgia Southern on back-to-back days on Dec. 18-19 in DeLand. 

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