PHOTO CREDIT: Sara Eisenhauer, UMAC Assistant Commissioner

MANKATO, Minn. – Returning to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Postseason Tournament for the second consecutive season, the Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team played host to the Martin Luther Knights on Monday night in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

In a thrilling second half of UMAC basketball, the Vikings downed the Knights 72-67 to advance in the UMAC Postseason Tournament.
 
UMAC NOTES PRIOR TO TIP-OFF:
The No. 4-seed Bethany Lutheran sealed their playoff berth on February 10th with a win over Northland College and will host a Martin Luther – a squad they swept in the regular season to help ensure a bid to the postseason tournament.

The No. 5-seed Martin Luther also defeated Northland last weekend to lock up its fifth-consecutive playoff berth. The Knights enter the postseason without a win on their record against all of the other playoff teams for a 8-8 conference record. They knocked the College of St. Scholastica out of playoff contention for the second year in a row with a series sweep.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Bethany Lutheran shot under 30 percent in the first 20 minutes of the playoff game.
• Martin Luther carried a 34-28 lead into the break, while shooting slightly above 30 percent.
• The Vikings came out of the locker room strong, out-scoring MLC 23-11 in the third quarter.
• BLC erased an eight point deficit in the third to begin the fourth period ahead by six points.
• The BLC bench was huge in the efforts over MLC, scoring 23 points compared to the Knights 11.
• The largest lead for Bethany Lutheran was extended to 13 points with just under six minutes remaining in the postseason contest.
• The Knights made a late 11-0 run to pull within one at 66-65 with 1:39 remaining
• BLC held the rebound advantage, 46-42.
• BLC finished the contest shooting 36.9 percent (24-65) from the field.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Junior Brooke Henning (Worthington, Minn.) led the way for BLC with a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double performance.
• Sophomore Haley Sandin (Zimmerman, Minn.) added 14 points while Anna Balcom had 11 points.
• Junior Dakota Ellinghuysen (Peterson, Minn.) added eight points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
• Rachel Sorensen (Windom, Minn.) and Taylor Schultz (Wells, Minn.) provided the spark off the bench, scoring nine and six points apiece. The sharp shooters combined for five clutch three's.

UP NEXT:
The Vikings will now travel to Superior, Wisconsin on Wednesday night to take on the Yellowjackets from UW-Superior. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. To find out more about the 2016-17 UMAC Women's Basketball Tournament, click here.

To stay current with Vikings athletics this season, continue to visit www.blcvikings.com and follow @BLCvikings on Twitter.  
MEDIA: If you need further information, please feel free to contact Lucas Herd at 507-344-7856 or email lucas.herd@blc.edu.