ARDEN HILLS, Minn.—Defense was the name of the game Wednesday night for the Bethel women's basketball team. The Royals (12-5, 7-3 MIAC) tallied a season-high 15 steals in tonight's win against Concordia (6-11, 3-7 MIAC). The Bethel women capitalized on Concordia's mistakes by scoring 29 points off turnovers, which propelled them to a 74-53 victory.
 
BU took control early in the first half thanks to an impressive second quarter, holding Concordia to just four points. Hannah Johnson played a large part, blocking five shots in the first half. Haylee Barker took full advantage of being thrown into the starting lineup and had 8 points on a perfect 4-4 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Royals shot 50 percent from the field in the first half compared to 33.3 percent for Concordia. Concordia's Kirstin Simmons gave Bethel some fits in the first half with seven points at the break.


 
Abby Miller took over after halftime, scoring 12 of her 18 total points in the final 20 minutes. Angie Kirchoff also had a well-rounded second half as she contributed three assists and three steals. Kirchoff was the Royals' leading distributor tonight, finishing with a team-high five assists which accounted for over half the teams assists (nine). BU also hit five three's in the second half on 5-of-11 shooting.
 
Bethel led by as many as 27 in the fourth quarter and coasted to an easy 21 point win.
It was a full team effort tonight as the bench also made nice contributions with 24 points. Jasmin Bretoi and Hannah Simpson each tallied nine, while Lainie Cox was a thief with three steals off the bench.
 
The Royals will play College of Saint Benedict on Sat. January 27, at 3 p.m. in the Robertson Center. The weekend matinee will be a rematch of the first conference game of the season.