ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – A strong balanced attack led the Bethel University women's basketball team to register a 72-45 non-conference victory at home against University of Northwestern Saturday afternoon.

Eight different Royals found the scoring column as the Royals built a 25-point halftime lead and never looked back. The bounceback win improves Bethel's record to 4-2 overall as they head back into MIAC play Wednesday, Dec. 5 hosting University of St. Thomas at 7 p.m.

Junior center Hannah Johnson led the Royals with a double-double registering 16 points and 13 boards. Junior guard Haylee Barker also tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Makenna Pearson and Taite Anderson chipped in 16 and 11 points respectively. Off the bench, Tessah Anderson added seven points.  

A strong start paved the way as Bethel scored the game's first eight points. Strong 3-point shooting from Pearson and Tessah Anderson gave the Royals a 21-8 lead after the first 10 minutes. The offensive momentum carried into the second quarter where BU opened it up with back-to-back threes from Pearson and Haylee Barker. A jumper by Johnson at the 3:49 mark gave the Royals their largest lead of the half at 35-10.

A strong 46.7 percent shooting (14-of-30) performance in the half sent the Royals with a 36-15 lead into the locker room.

The break quieted the Royals shooting as they opened up the second half on a two minute scoring drought before Pearson knocked down a trey. The Royals from that point went on an 8-0 run en route to a 51-26 lead after three quarters.

The 3-balll continued to fly in the fourth as the teams combined to go for 6-of-11 behind the arc. Bethel reached their largest lead of the game at 62-28 thanks to a 3-pointer from Taite Anderson.