RALEIGH, N.C. - William Peace women's basketball dropped its first game back from a long holiday stretch on Monday afternoon, falling 71-56 to Bethany College inside the Hermann Athletic Center. The loss moves the Pacers to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in USA South play.

Bethany built an early lead in the opening quarter, holding Peace to nine points and taking control into halftime. The Pacers turned it up a notch in the second half, outscoring Bethany 32-28 over the final two quarters, but were unable to fully close the gap.

A major bright spot for William Peace was the return of Jess Worthey, who made her season debut after missing all of last year due to injury. Worthey delivered an outstanding performance, scoring a team-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including five three-pointers, while adding seven rebounds in her first game back.

Alyssa Monroe also provided a strong offensive lift with 11 points off the bench, while Kristin Barber added seven points and four rebounds. Defensively, the Pacers forced 19 turnovers and generated 19 points off those miscues.

William Peace returns to action on Friday, hosting N.C. Wesleyan at 2 p.m. in another USA South conference match up.