MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran women's basketball team Wednesday hosted Minnesota Morris and fell in a nailbiter by a score 74-72. With the loss the Vikings fall to 5-13 on the year and 4-3 in the UMAC while the Cougars move to 6-12 on the season and 4-3 in conference play.
Juliana Ewald would get Bethany off on the right foot as she scored five early points and
Arinn McGee added two as the Vikings led 7-2 three minutes in. After Morris would respond with six of the next eight points to make it a one point game, a pair of free throws from
Kenadi Arndt put things at 11-8 in favor of Bethany. Over the final four minutes of the quarter though, Morris would outscore the Vikings 10-0 and they would hold an 18-11 lead headed to the second.
The Cougars would extend their lead to 22-13 early in the second, but seven straight from the home team would bring the deficit down to two points. After Morris would find one more bucket, Ewald would knock down another triple to start a 7-0 run and give the Vikings a 27-24 lead. The two teams would then go back and forth late in the frame with neither gaining much momentum, but a Ewald jumper finding the bottom of the net with time winding down would send Bethany into the break up 34-30.
After the first 2:45 of the second half went 4-3 in favor of Bethany, the Vikings would gain some major momentum thanks to tremendous post play from McGee. The freshman would put up seven points in a stretch that saw the home team go on a 12-2 run and claim a 50-35 lead with four minutes to play in the third. Unfortunately for Bethany, Morris responded to the run in a big way, scoring 10 straight over the next two minutes to bring the lead back to five points. Each team would score four more points late in the quarter and that five point cushion would remain as the two team's headed to the final frame.
McGee scored twice more early in the fourth and Ewald added a fastbreak finish as the Vikings would push their lead out to eight points at 60-52 with 7:30 to play. A Cougar basket followed by a turnover and another quick basket would halt the momentum though as the lead was cut in half and sat at just four with 6:45 to go. Three more for UMM would cut the deficit down to just one point before McGee responded with a nice post move inside to make it a three point game midway through the final quarter.
With Bethany leading by three, Morris scored the next six points to take a three point lead with 3:30 to play before Ewald hit a running jump shot to bring the deficit back to one. Each team would knock down one more basket in the next two minutes, before back-to-back buckets from the Cougars extended their lead to five with 1:16 to play. McGee continued her dominance in the paint with a minute to go as she would finish inside once again to make it a one possession game but after a stop on the defensive end the Vikings couldn't find the bottom of the net and had to send the Cougars to the free throw line with 30 seconds to play. UMM would connect on a pair of free throws to push their lead to five points and the Vikings late comeback fell short as a three pointer at the buzzer from Bethany brought the game to its final score of 74-72.
McGee led the Vikings with 20 points in the contest to go along with 12 rebounds and two steals. Ewald added 18 points, four rebounds, and three assists, while Arndt had 13 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks.
Bethany will be back in action on Saturday when they host Crown for a 4:45 p.m. contest.
