HENDERSON — The No. 2 Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions used a 23-point fourth quarter to hoist the 2026 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship First and Second Round Presented by Ballogy trophy. Playing in front of their home fans in the Henderson regional presented by E&T Contracting, the Lady Lions got the 73-64 victory over the No. 9 seed Bethel (Ind.) University Pilots to advance to the round of 16.
Though
Ally Weathers' layup got the top-seeded Lady Lions (25-7) on the board first, the Pilots had the upper hand in the first quarter, with a 3-pointer at 5:58 giving Bethel a 10-4 advantage.
Lilly Kee would add a pair of jumpers, but a late layup gave the Pilots an 18-10 lead after the first quarter.
The Lions changed gears in the second quarter, storing out to score nin unanswered points to take a 19-18 lead. FHU held the Pilots (21-11) scoreless for the first 3:26 of the quarter with
Carissa Curtis' 3-pointer helping forge the Lady Lions ahead. Weathers continued to score in bunches, tallying eight of the Lady Lions next 10 points. Curtis would add another late 3-pointer to go into the locker room holding a 34-31 lead.
Freed-Hardeman and Bethel traded scores in the third period with
Rachel Satterly joining with a triple before Weathers had a pair of layups in transition. R. Satterly's layup gave the Lady Lions a 50-43 edge after three complete quarters.
The Lady Lions' shooting from the free throw line kept the Pilots at bay with FHU scoring 10 points from the charity stripe in the final quarter. Kee would score 13 points in the finale to help FHU to the 73-64 victory.
FHU shot 54% from the floor in the victory while holding Bethel to a 37% night of shooting.
Lilly Kee led all scorers with 21 points while
Ally Weathers had 19 points in the victory.
Jenna Satterly chipped in with 18 points.
Up Next
The Lady Lions will travel nearly 800 miles to face a very familiar face. Mid-South Conference foe (RV) Georgetown won their own regional and FHU will now line up with the No. 5 seed in the round of 16 at the Tyson Events Center. Tipoff from Sioux City, Iowa is March 19 at 1:00 p.m.
