MANKATO, Minn.- The Bethany women's basketball team hosted Carleton to open its season on Wednesday night and fell to the visitors 69-60 in a back and forth contest. The Vikings fall to 0-1 with the loss while the Knights move to 1-0.

After Bethany jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minutes of the contest, their offense fell stagnant, as Carleton outscored them 10-0 over a 5:10 span in the middle of the first frame. Each team would snag a few baskets late though, as a layup by the Knights with 40 seconds remaining gave them a 14-10 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The Vikings opened the second quarter on a 7-3 run, as Lexiss Trygg got a pair of buckets and dished out an assist for a Taryn Christensen three-pointer to help even the contest up at 17 just over a minute into the second quarter. The two teams then started trading baskets back and forth throughout the duration of the second frame, with neither team taking more than a one possession lead before a Trygg score with 47 seconds left gave Bethany a 33-31 lead headed into the half. 

Trailing by two, the third quarter started to be where Carleton turned the tide of the contest. They outscored the Vikings 17-11 in the frame to hold a four point lead and did so by holding Bethany to 4-14 shooting from the field, while shooting 7-13 themselves. Turnovers also proved costly in the third quarter for Bethany as the Knights forced the Vikings to commit seven in the frame.

With 10 minutes to play, Carleton opened the final quarter with a pair of baskets to build an eight point lead that Bethany couldn't overcome. The Vikings cut the deficit to four with two minutes remaining but three turnovers down the stretch hurt the home team as they fell by a score of 69-60.

Haley Meyer had a solid game for the Vikings, putting up 15 points and five rebounds on 6-of-14 shooting, while Taryn Christensen posted 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Vikings are back in action on Friday when they travel to Milwaukee to take on DePauw University at 5 p.m. at the Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament.