NEW ULM, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team Saturday afternoon took on Martin Luther College and fell to the Knights by a score of 72-59. With the loss the Vikings fall to 4-15 overall and 4-4 in the conference while MLC moves to 8-11 overall and 3-5 overall.

The Knights scored the first six points of the contest before the Vikings would finally get on the board and score the next five. The runs continued in the first quarter as the Knights would score six more points to go up 12-5 midway through the quarter. Bethany would claw back into late in the frame, with an Amelia Walker layup with time winding down bringing the score to 18-17 after 10 minutes.

Aubrea Kor would open the second with a layup as the Vikings took their first lead of the day before the Knights responded with a 10-3 run to go up 28-22. They would push their lead all the way to 33-24 at the midway point of the quarter before Bethany would lock in defensively late, outscoring MLC 6-0 in the final five minutes to cut the deficit to 33-30 at the half.

After each team would get a basket each in the first two minutes the Vikings offense went cold as the Knights would go on an 8-0 run to take a 43-32 lead. Bethany would finally find a little offense as they would score eight of the next 10 to cut the lead to 45-40 but a three pointer from MLC near the end of the quarter would give them an eight-point lead at the end of three.

After a free throw from the Knights to open the fourth, back to back baskets from the Vikings would cut the deficit back to five. MLC would push their lead to seven points, but an Alba Fernandez and-one would spark five straight from the Vikings to cut the deficit to six points with 4:37 to go. That was as close as Bethany would get though, as Martin Luther would pull away late by connecting on their free throws and getting stops on the defensive end to claim a 72-59 lead.

Kor led the Vikings in this one with 14 points, while Lexiss Trygg added 13 off the bench.

Turnovers proved to be costly in this one, as Bethany was able to force 22 out of the Knights but committed 29 themselves.

The Vikings will next be in action on Friday when they take on Crown College at home at 5:30 p.m.