Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Bethel Royals are on a roll, gathering momentum at the right time of the season. With five games left to play, their 86-70 win pulls them into a tie for fifth place with the Hamline Pipers, the team they defeated tonight on the road.

Bethel seldom trailed and had nearly twice as many defensive rebounds during the course of the game, while shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor to aid their win. The Pipers made just 25 of their 77 shots from the field tonight, and 14 of them were from three-point range. The Royals came down with 36 defensive rebounds and 49 total, compared to just 35 total for the Pipers.

Autumn Beasley (Fr., Medina, Minn.) led the Royals and the game with a season high 26 points, giving her an average of 19.4 points in her last five games. The starting guard was 7-for-13 from the field and 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Bethel capitalized on 29 of their 36 opportunities from the charity stripe and did a good job of minimizing Hamline's chances to get to the free throw line. The Royals committed just nine fouls in the entire game compared to the Pipers' 25. To Hamline's credit, they made each of their six free throws, but Taylor Sheley (Fr., Backus, Minn.) alone was 8-for-8 from the line. Sheley finished with 19 points, six assists, a block, and a steal.

Once again, the inside game was dominated by Annegret Nautsch (Sr., Everett, Wash.), who tallied her third double-double in a row and her 11th of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds, not to mention five blocks and a steal. Kristen Wolters (Jr., St. Cloud, Minn.) nearly had a double-double with 12 points on four three pointers, and nine rebounds. Lakita Davis (Sr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) rounded out Bethel's double digit scorers with 10 points in her 17 minutes of play. She also contributed five rebounds and an assist to the effort.

Jackie Kelly led the Pipers with 18 points, while Jessica Heinen had 14. Rochelle Sather came in off the bench to score 10 points and snag eight rebounds for the Hamline cause.

As a team, the Royals made 49 percent of their shots from the field, including more than 63 percent of their three-pointers. However, Bethel did turn the ball over 18 times compared to just 10 times for Hamline.

With the win, Bethel improves to 11-9 overall and 10-7 in the conference, already giving them one more MIAC win than last season. Hamline falls to 13-7 overall and 10-7 in the MIAC with the loss. Bethel is scheduled to stay on the road and travel down to Northfield this coming Saturday to take on the St. Olaf Oles beginning at 1 p.m.