MANKATO, Minn.—The No. 1 seed Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team (19-8 overall) was defeated 70-60 Friday night by No. 4 seed Minnesota Morris (13-14) in a UMAC Tournament semifinal game. With the loss, the Vikings are eliminated from the UMAC Tournament. 
 
The Cougars led by as many as five in the opening quarter as they grabbed a 15-14 lead after one. 
 
Bethany took a 20-17 lead to begin the second quarter, but Morris responded with eight unanswered and entered the intermission ahead 28-25. 
 
BLC shot 50% from the field in the first half (10-20), but it had 14 turnovers compared to UMM's six across the opening 20 minutes. 
 
The Cougars pushed the lead to 47-40 at the end of the third quarter despite 13 points in the period by senior Hanna Geistfeld (Truman, Minn.). 
 
The Vikings were held to just three points in the first five minutes of the final quarter as Morris' lead grew to 12. Junior Ashley Schindele (Kimball, Minn.) hit a trey with under a minute to play to cut the deficit to five at 63-58, but it was not enough. 
 
Geistfeld led all scorers with 28 in the contest. Freshman Haley Meyer (Centerville, S.D.) added 13, and junior Taryn Christensen (South Sioux City, Neb.) had eight. 
 
BLC owned the advantages on the glass (34-29) and in points in the paint (36-30).