SUPERIOR, Wis. — A strong second half effort helped the Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team (6-2 overall, 1-0 UMAC) defeat UW-Superior (1-8, 0-1) 68-52 Friday night.

The YellowJackets narrowly led 15-14 after the first quarter and later led by two at halftime (28-26).

The Vikings used a 19-10 third quarter to reclaim the lead for good. UWS sliced the margin to six (55-49) with 4:43 to play, but BLC answered with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to end the rally.

Senior Hanna Geistfeld (Truman, Minn.) led all scorers with 26 points, with 15 of them coming in the second half alone. She finished with a double double with 18 rebounds, just one shy of her career mark.

Sophomore Sara Kottke (Buffalo Lake, Minn.) joined Geistfeld in double digits with 17 points and added eight rebounds.

Bethany owned the team advantages in field goal percentage, rebounds, and steals.

The Vikings continue their road trip tomorrow against Northland at 3 p.m. to conclude the conference opening weekend.