MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team Saturday played a back and forth battle with Minnesota Morris Saturday afternoon, falling 69-62 to the Cougars. With the loss the Vikings fall to 5-16 overall and 5-5 in the UMAC while Morris moves to 12-9 overall and 8-2 in the conference.
After a 3-3 start to the game the Vikings would go on a 9-0 run, with Juliana Ewald scoring five points during the stretch, to take a 12-3 lead. Morris would respond with a big run to end the quarter, outscoring the Vikings 10-3 to bring the deficit to 15-13 after 10 minutes.
Both teams ramped up the defensive efforts in the second quarter and made it difficult on their opposition. The Cougars would force nine Bethany turnovers in the frame and that advantage would help them outscore the Vikings 14-10 to take a 27-25 lead into the half.
Each team would score 10 points during the first five and half minutes of the third before Morris would make their most impactful run of the game. They would close the quarter on a 9-2 spurt to hold a 46-37 advantage after three quarters.
After Morris would open up the fourth by scoring seven of the first eight points to take their biggest lead of the game at 15 points the Vikings would begin to mount a comeback. They would slowly chip away at first, before two huge threes from Ewald cut the deficit to eight points at the midway point of the frame.
After Morris would get the next basket to retake a 10 point lead, Bethany would score the next seven to bring the deficit down to three. The Cougars would get a pair of crucial baskets on their next two possessions though and were able to salt the victory away late.
Ewald led the Vikings in the contest with 14 points while Aubrea Kor added 13. Lexiss Trygg and Gianna Klarenbeek also finished in double figures with 12 and 11, respectively. Ewald, Trygg, and Kor all added eight rebounds with Kor also added four steals in the contest.
Bethany will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Northwestern for a 5:30 p.m. contest.
