MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team (10-2 overall, 3-1 UMAC) handed Minnesota-Morris (7-5, 3-1) its first conference loss of the season in the 69-66 victory Wednesday night.

It was a tale of two halves as the Cougars took the 37-29 lead at halftime and Bethany opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run over the first two minutes to pull ahead at 38-37. The lead would change hands an additional six times in the frame until senior Emily Skrien (Nicollet, Minn.) gave the Vikings the 49-48 lead on her free throw with 19 seconds remaining.

BLC used an 11-4 run over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to push the margin to eight (60-52). UMM would battle back to slice the lead to three with 18 seconds left. The Cougars then chose to foul and junior Abby Olson (Montevideo, Minn.) made both free throws to make it a six-point game (69-63) with five seconds to play. Minnesota-Morris got the ball back and made a trey with three seconds remaining to which the Vikings held the ball as time expired for the win.

Junior Hanna Geistfeld (Truman, Minn.) led all scorers with 30 points. Olson and freshman Skylar Cotten (Grand Meadow, Minn.) joined her in double digits with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

BLC owned the team advantage in free throw percentage (80.0 vs. 66.7) and steals (14-11).

The Vikings continue their four-game homestand Saturday against Northland at 4:45 p.m.