Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - Coming off a decisive victory against St. Thomas, the Bethel women hosted St. Olaf for the two team's first match up of the year. Though it was a close game, thanks to a strong second half, Bethel emerged victorious 70-62.

While Bethel is able to add another "W" to the win column, it wasn't a win that was handed to them. At halftime, the score was tied at 33, which is indicative of how evenly matched the contest was. The two teams traded leads throughout most of the game, and the Royals battled to the end to secure a victory.  Significantly contributing to that effort was, among others, Lakita Davis (Sr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) with 13 points in her 16 minutes. Taylor Sheley (Fr., Backus, Minn.) also added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Autumn Beasley (Fr., Medina, Minn.) had 11 points.  On the defensive end, Annegret Nautsch (Sr., Everett, Wash.) had six blocks to help defeat the Oles.

As a team, Bethel out rebounded St. Olaf 27 -17, which created many more scoring opportunities for them. The Royals also made 18 of their 21 free throws, while the Oles were only given 10 opportunities for free throws, making 9 of them. Shooting percentages for each team were relatively even, with St. Olaf completing 23 of their 53 attempts from the floor, and Bethel making 25 of their 51.

Key players for St. Olaf include Kelsey Oja, who scored a total of 20 points in her 40 minutes, Elyse Erickson, who had 15 before fouling out relatively early in the second half, and Terin Euerle who finished with 10.

With this victory the Royals improve to 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the MIAC. St. Olaf is now 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the conference. Bethel's next home game is scheduled to be held on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when Gustavus Adolphus comes to town.