Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - With the stress of finals over, and a nice break to look forward to, the Bethel Royals' women's basketball team took to the court against #23 ranked Simpson College this afternoon. Playing without leading scorer, Taylor Sheley (So., Backus, Minn.), the Storm took advantage of several Royal miscues and went on to win 69-37.

Bethel managed to hang with an incredibly aggressive Simpson team for the first three and a half minutes, but the Storm quickly established themselves as the dominant team today, leading by as many as 22 before the end of the first half. The second half wasn't much different as a full court press often frustrated the Royals. While Bethel didn't turn the ball over nearly as much in the second half, they were unable to establish any offensive rhythm in the loss.

Newcomer Kristi Nye (So., Nashville, Tenn.) led the Royals with nine points, while Shana Grejtak (Jr., Franklin, Minn.) led the team in rebounds with eight. Bethel did a good job of penetrating the lane, trying to make something happen, and was rewarded with 29 shots at the free throw line. However, the team has been plagued by a below average shooting percentage from the charity stripe all season, and today was no exception. The Royals made just 15 shots from the line, which was barely above 50% for the game.

Three players from the Storm reached double digits, led by Stacey Schutjer with 19. Katie Kitzman tallied 12 points, while Ali Sokol came off the bench to score 10.

With the loss, the Royals are still winless at 0-6 going into the Christmas break, while Simpson improves to 7-1 on their season. The next chance for the Royals to win comes against Northwestern College on Dec. 31, at 3 p.m. in Roseville.