Makenzee Mason turned in one of the more memorable individual efforts in recent Bethany Bison women’s basketball history.
In doing so, she earned the Newcomer of the Year award, given annually to the top freshman by the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Mason also earned second-team all-PAC honors, becoming just the second Bison player to do so in the last 10 years, and just the second in program history to win the Newcomer award.
Both of those previous distinctions belong to Kelsea Daugherty, who won the award back in 2014-15 and twice was named second-team all-conference.
Daugherty is also the last Bison player to lead the team in scoring as a freshman—until Mason.
“It was a well-deserved honor for her,” Bethany head coach Brian Sansom said of his talented freshman. “She’s an extremely hard worker. We knew what we were getting when we recruited her.
“But she even flourished quicker than I thought she would, making that adjustment from high school to college.”
A deeper delve into the numbers helps illustrate that picture. Mason was sixth in scoring for the PAC at 15.3 points per game and led the conference in free throw percentage at 85 percent (65 of 76).
Considering just her own team, Mason led the Bison in minutes (30.2), assists (3.1), steals (2.1) and was third in rebounds (5.0), despite serving primarily as the team’s point guard and occasionally playing the 2.
A quick adjustment indeed. While not the only freshman making major contributions this season, it’s safe to say Mason was instrumental and helping rejuvenate the Bison program and lead Bethany to its first PAC tournament win since 2018.
“She’s a student of the game and coachable. She asks a ton of questions and I believe it’s how hard she works that’s allowed her to play at such a high level and adjust to the physicality of the college game,” Sansom said.
“Her skill set is above where you’d expect a freshman to be.”
Rounding Out Her Game
There’s always room for improvement and Sansom noted he’d like to see Mason develop her outside shot a bit more.
That’s not to say Mason isn’t a capable perimeter shooter. She did make 13 in going 13 of 37 for a respectable 35 percent clip. Current and former teammate Nikki Bradbury is the top option there, hitting a team-best 34 this season.
Mason flourishes best when attacking the basket off the dribble, converting or drawing fouls and making teams pay for putting her at the line.
If they weren’t aware of her before the narrow loss to Washington & Jefferson in the quarterfinals, they certainly were afterward.
Mason scored a game-high 26 points in a close 66-62 loss on the Presidents home floor in a game Bethany well could have won.
In the process, she finished 7 of 15 from the floor, and 11 of 13 at the line. The Presidents simply didn’t have an answer.
“We’re trying to get her to be more of an outside shooter because she’s never really had to be,” Sansom said. “Her ability to get to the basket and draw fouls, at this level, they are going to try to take that away from her. The secret is out now and next year we want to work on making her more of a shooter too.”
It helps having perimeter shooters like Bradbury and junior Courtney Walker that dissuade opposing defenses from packing in too much. So, the help is already there.
Given the recruitment of a couple of key freshmen like Wheeling Park’s Lindsey Garrison and Shenandoah’s Ashleigh Wheeler, more deep-range help is on the way.
“The incoming freshman, once we get them in, will add to what we’re trying to do,” Sansom said. “He had one game where we hit 14 3-pointers, one with 12, 11, and we’re transitioning to where we want to get to.
“They did a good job of changing up the style and playing faster.”
Growing Youth Movement
Bethany finished with a 5-6 record, but finished strong, winning 3-of-5. Included in that total is a close loss to Grove City, 72-66, that the Bison also nearly pulled out.
The starting lineup changed from the opener against Franciscan to the five women that took the floor against W&J, growing younger along the way.
Two freshmen—Mason and Bradbury—started against the Barons in the opening victory. By game three, it grew to three.
Mason tweaked an injury and didn’t start the first time against the Presidents, playing only eight minutes.
By the second meeting, she was joined in the starting lineup by fellow freshmen Bella Skobel and Molly Grayson. The team took the court with four rookies paired with Meintel, suddenly the elder stateswoman.
But it worked and as the team progressed, Sansom noted the upper-class members of the roster got on board.
“How well the upperclassmen meshed with the freshmen early made a big difference. They made them feel welcome and saw how talented they were as a group. They all bought in,” Sansom said. “Unfortunately, because of COVID, we didn’t get to play the full number of games we normally do because, honestly, I felt we were really just starting to hit out stride.
“But it was fun to watch and see the team evolve.”
Sophomore Abbey Dobbins was the first to reach to the newcomers, even before the season took place. Dobbins herself started the first two games before suffering a meniscus tear in practice and missing the rest of the season.
“She spearheaded getting that connectiveness started and the other older players started adding in,” Sansom noted. “They know we are laying the foundation of where we want the program to go.”
Sansom is finally starting to see results and that lie at the end of the tunnel is getting a lot brighter. Big things were in motion this season. Next season’s recruiting class is already strong with a few more players to add.
“It took us a while to get here,” “Sansom said. “This was my fifth year. We’ve had some bumps in the road and it hasn’t always been fun for me or the players. But we’ve figured it out and buckled down.
“The culture and the environment, it’s finally to where we want it to be and now, we have to maintain and keep it growing in certain areas.”
You can be as the next three seasons pass and this program moves ahead, that Mason will be at the forefront of the Bison’s continued return to PAC prominence.
