MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team (22-3 overall) advanced to the UMAC Tournament Championship game in the 53-43 win over Minnesota-Morris (17-10) Wednesday night. The Vikings will host UW-Superior Saturday at 7:30 p.m. This will be the program's third-straight and third overall appearance in the title game in program history.


 
BLC led 19-9 at the end of the first quarter, but the Cougars outscored them in the second and third frames to take the one-point lead into the final quarter (40-39).
 
Senior Emily Skrien (Nicollet, Minn.) gave the Vikings the one-point lead as she made both of her free throws at the start of the fourth. UMM completed the three-point play to push the lead to two in its favor until three straight triples from BLC would put the home team up by seven (50-43) with 2:42 to play.
 
The Cougars were unable to foul in the last 20 seconds of the contest to seal the win for Bethany.
 
Junior Hanna Geistfeld (Truman, Minn.) led all scorers with 17 points and recorded another double double with 13 rebounds. Classmate Abby Olson (Montevideo, Minn.) joined her in double figures with 13 points.

Click here for the KEYC highlights.

Click here for the photo gallery, taken by Sara Quinnell of the UMAC office.
Click here for the photo gallery, taken by D3Photography.com.

The Vikings return to the court Saturday when they host UW-Superior in the Tournament Championship at 7:30 p.m.