ST. PAUL, Minn.— The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team (17-7 overall, 12-1 UMAC) suffered a 70-67 overtime loss on the road to the University of Northwestern (16-5,12-1) Friday night. With the loss, Bethany's 10-game win streak was snapped and its undefeated UMAC season came to an end. 
 
UNW stifled BLC early, giving it a 13-3 lead through the game's opening seven minutes. Bethany got its offense going late in the frame to only trail 20-12 after one.
 
A pair of triples by freshman Haley Meyer (Centerville, S.D.) helped the Vikings to a 17-2 run over the first four minutes of the second quarter to regain the lead at 29-22. The Eagles clawed back to within two at the intermission, 33-31. 
 
Senior Hanna Geistfeld (Truman, Minn.) led the way with 11 points and six rebounds at halftime. Junior Ashley Schindele (Kimball, Minn.) hit three triples before the break. 
 
A 5-0 Northwestern run in a span of 20 seconds gave the Eagles a 42-41 lead with two minutes to play in the third. BLC retook the lead before a last-second, and-one layup for UNW gave it a 47-46 advantage heading to the fourth. 
 
Two triples by Meyer to begin the final frame erased the Vikings' deficit, but Northwestern responded to pull ahead at 59-55 with 2:31 to play. A bucket by Geistfeld and two Meyer free throws in the final minute sent the contest to overtime tied at 59. 
 
The game remained tied at 64 before UNW scored four unanswered to make it 68-64 with under 20 seconds remaining in the extra session. Schindele hit a contested three to bring the Vikings within one with eight seconds to go, but it was not enough. 
 
Meyer finished the night with a career-high 20 points and seven rebounds. 
 
Geistfeld scored 19 and added a game-high 12 rebounds and eight assists. Defensively, Geistfeld tied her career high with three blocks. 
 
Schindele contributed 13 points in the contest. 
 
Bethany edged Northwestern in both shooting percentage categories from the floor. The team shot 25-60 overall (41.7%) and 11-33 (33.3%) from deep. 
 
BLC will seek to capture its third consecutive UMAC regular season championship at North Central University on Saturday at 3 p.m.