Wom­en’s Bas­ket­ball Says Good­bye to Se­niors

MISHAWAKA—Sat­ur­day, Feb. 20, the Bethel Wom­en’s Bas­ket­ball team cel­e­brated the ca­reers of its two se­niors. Both Jes­sica Er­win and Kelsey Brick­ner are leav­ing Bethel Uni­ver­sity with dec­o­rated ca­reers.  

Kelsey Brick­ner, an ex­er­cise sci­ence ma­jor from Goshen, In­di­ana, leaves Bethel a 1,000-point scorer. She was hon­ored by be­ing named in the All-Cross­roads New­comer team in 2018. She is a two-time All-Cross­roads League Hon­or­able Men­tion, and she was also named to the Pre­sea­son All-Cross­roads League sec­ond team this sea­son. 

“Kelsey has be­come a bet­ter shooter this sea­son,” said Coach Doug Porter, “She was solid in her first two sea­sons but fell off last sea­son and we were able to get her back on track. I am ex­tremely proud of her work ethic on de­vel­op­ing her shot.” 

Jes­sica Er­win, an el­e­men­tary ed­u­ca­tion ma­jor from Spring­field, Ohio, also leaves Bethel a 1,000-point scorer. She broke into the 1,000-point club on Jan. 30 against Grace Col­lege. She be­came the twenty-fifth player in Bethel his­tory to achieve that honor. Er­win was named a 2019 All-Cross­roads League Hon­or­able Men­tion.  

“Jess has re­ally gained a lot of con­fi­dence in her game over the past two sea­sons.” said Coach Porter, “She’s been able to con­tribute a lot at both ends of the court and has been so ag­gres­sive get­ting to the bas­ket. This sea­son, I have been so glad to see how much she’s im­proved on get­ting to the hoop, and then in turn, get­ting to the foul line.” 

Head­ing into next sea­son, the Pi­lots will be with­out two of their key scor­ers, but Coach Porter be­lieves that his team is more than ca­pa­ble of per­form­ing at a high level with­out them there. 

I think our younger play­ers have learned from Kelsey and Jess that this con­fer­ence is­n’t easy,” said Coach Porter, “Al­though I think that Kelsey and Jess have laid the path for the younger guys to el­e­vate their game for next sea­son. 

The Wom­en’s Bas­ket­ball team edged out a win against the Goshen Maple Leafs, 88-82. Brick­ner left the Weikamp Ath­letic Cen­ter with a stat line of six­teen points, three re­bounds, and two as­sists. Er­win ex­ploded for the Pi­lots with thirty-two points, nine re­bounds, and two as­sists. 

For more in­for­ma­tion on the Wom­en’s Bas­ket­ball team, visit www.bupi­lots.com.