Bethel-Tate senior Brooke Jenike has helped lead her team to a 13-4 overall mark and a 5-2 record in the SBC-National.

Bethel-Tate senior Brooke Jenike has helped lead her team to a 13-4 overall mark and a 5-2 record in the SBC-National.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

The Bethel-Tate Lady Tigers came into the season with a mantra touted by senior leader Brooke Jenike, “update that banner.”

“That banner” is the one hanging in the Bethel-Tate gym demarking the conference titles the Lady Tigers have captured. The last time it was updated was 1990 and thanks to a 45-43 win over Felicity-Franklin on Jan. 26 — the Lady Cardinals’ first loss of the season — Jenike’s premonition is still a possibility.

At 13-4 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Buckeye Conference National Division, the Lady Tigers are tied for second place with Georgetown, both a half-game behind the Lady Cardinals.

“Since we lost to Felicity earlier in the year, we had that (Jan. 26) date circled on our calendar,” Bethel-Tate head coach Dave Fallis said. “For us to even stay in the hunt for a share of the league title, we had to beat Felicity.

“It was all defense. We came out fast and furious and scored 21 in the first quarter and then, both teams settled down a little bit. We went up big and Felicity battled back like we knew they would.”

A seven-point first quarter lead was two by halftime and one heading into the fourth quarter. And when it came to winning time — the last two minutes of the game — Fallis’ Lady Tigers were up to the challenge.

“We were ready. We knew it was going to come down to the wire, so we talked about crashing the boards,” Fallis said. “Alyssa Demaris came in and got some key rebounds for us. We tried to hold the ball a little bit and got a little out of sync.”

A rash of timeouts took some of the flow of out the game, but Fallis said he used that time to remind his team that they had prepared all season for moments like that.

“We told them this is why we practice the way that we do for long hours — for games like this,” he said. “Everyone committed to guarding their girls, crashing the boards, being strong with the ball and making good decisions and it all came together.”

Felicity’s Morgan Horn hit one of two free throws with 13.9 seconds remaining to tie the game at 43, but Bethel’s Julia Jenike was body checked bringing the ball up the floor on the ensuing possession, In the bonus, Jenike made her two free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 45-43 lead.

Bethel sophomore Haley Taylor plucked a long pass intended for Horn with less than five seconds remaining and the Lady Tigers held on to win.

“We needed (that win),” Fallis said. “We had a gap in our schedule around Christmas and that really hurt us. We haven’t been the team in the second half (of the season) that we were in the first half. We talked about that at length and the team understands that all of the goals that we’ve set for ourselves are still in front of us.

“If we play 32 minutes like we did last night, we believe we can compete with anyone.”

The Lady Tigers have 96 minutes of SBC play still ahead of them beginning Thursday, Jan. 29 at Clermont Northeastern. While Fallis said his team is concerned with the next team on their schedule, the Bethel-Tate faithful will be pulling for a Georgetown win that same night over Felicity to create a three-way tie atop the division table.

“We’re going to be Georgetown fans on Thursday night, that’s for sure,” Fallis said. “It would really put us on the map, even if it’s just a share of the league title, because it’s hard to win. You have to play night in and night out. We’re on the more competitive side of the SBC this year; there are four or five teams that could beat each other on any given night.”

With the destiny of that banner out of their hands for now, Fallis said all his team can do is take care of their business, beat CNE, Blanchester and Williamsburg and let the chips fall where they may.

The Lady Tigers are rounding into form and hoping to piggyback off of the momentum gained from Monday’s win.

And who knows, maybe that performance could lead to a deep run in the postseason.

After all, there are some other banners that could use updating, too.