ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Knowing it was going to be a challenge from the tip the Bethel University women's basketball team gave everything they had as a second half comeback came up just short against No.3/5 St. Thomas by a score of 73-64.

Erasing a 16 point deficit in the third quarter aided the comeback for Bethel before St. Thomas (6-0, 2-0 MIAC) got hot behind the arc to drop the Royals to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.  Bethel held the rebound margin at 34-24 where 17 of those came on the offensive end to turning it into 18 second chance points.

Senior Hannah Johnson tallied in a game and season-high 27 points along with 11 rebounds to pick up her fourth double-double of the season. Despite fouling out midway through the third, junior Taite Anderson added 17 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Haylee Barker picked up seven assists, five of which game in the second half.

The momentum began to shift as the Royals created the games second tie with 7:36 left to go in the third quarter. Three straight layups by Taite Anderson erased a 16 point deficit evening things up at 38-38. The Royals picked up their first lead since the opening minutes at the 5:24 mark of the third quarter with a layup from Barker to make it 42-40. The teams closed out the quarter trading buckets to knot it all up at 51-51 heading into the final 10 minutes.

St. Thomas lit a spark in their offense after struggling with Bethel's full court press. The Tommies 22 fourth quarter points, eight of which came from the free throw line, aided the defense in quieting Bethel's offense as UST outscored the Royals 22-13.

A first quarter filled of turnovers found the Royals trailing by 10 before a strong shooting second quarter sent the Royals to the locker room trailing 36-30. The Royals trailed by as many as 16 in the second quarter before St. Thomas went two and a half minutes without a field goal allowing Bethel to put the deficit into single digits.