ST. PAUL—Bethel University's women's basketball team suffered a tough 65-72 loss on the road Wednesday night to the University of St. Thomas. The Royals (3-4, 0-2 MIAC) fell short despite outscoring the Tommies (5-1, 2-0 MIAC) 29-20 in the fourth quarter.

UST got out to a strong start right out of the gate, but the Royals battled back from a nine-point deficit to cut the lead to three to end the first quarter. The Tommies re-asserted themselves in the second quarter and gave themselves an eight-point lead heading to the locker room. UST had a strong quarter in the third and increased their advantage to 16.

Bethel battled back, however, with a 17-4 fourth-quarter run that tied the game at 56-56 with 4:08 remaining. St. Thomas managed to survive, however, thanks to clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch.

The Royals had four shooters in double figures as Taite Anderson notched a team-high 17, Hannah Johnson had 16, Abby Miller put up 14 and Angie Kirchoff scored 11. Johnson also pulled down eight rebounds to lead the team. Anderson was the team's leading three-point shooter as she went 2-2 from deep. Kirchoff had a team-high in assists with three.

The Royals shot 50.0 percent from three and 46.4 percent from the field, both greater than the Tommies. However, UST outrebounded BU 42-31, which lead to 22 second-chance points compared to seven for the Royals. Bethel posted seven blocked shots and seven steals.

The Royals are back in action Saturday, December 9 at 3 p.m. as they travel to Winona to play Saint Mary's University.