MANKATO, Minn. – Bethany women's basketball played UW-Stout – an NCAA Division III Final Four team last year – down to the wire Wednesday night but eventually lost 70-63, dropping to 2-7 overall.
The lead changed sides nine times in a tightly contested match throughout. Seven of the lead changes occurred in the first quarter as the Blue Devils held a slim 17-16 advantage after the first 10 minutes.
The Vikings regained the lead early in the second on a three-pointer by Morgan Hulke and went up by as much as four points three times before the visitors ended the half on a 7-2 run to lead 29-27 at half time.
UW-Stout had its best performance in the third quarter, out-scoring the Vikings 26-18, which proved to be the difference. Trailing by 12 with five minutes left in the game, Bethany put together a comeback effort with a 10-2 run, cutting the Stout lead to 65-61 with two minutes to play. That's as close as the Vikings got, though, in a seven-point loss.
Bethany shot 42.6 percent from the floor and made 9-of-21 from long range. The visitors shot 44.1 percent and won the rebound battle 35-29. Juliana Ewald paced the offense with 16 points and made 4-of-6 threes. Hulke was right behind with 15 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the field. Lauren Bauer led on the blocks with seven rebounds and Arinn McGee added three blocks with eight points.
Bethany travels to UW-Stevens Point for a 5 p.m. non-conference game Saturday.
