ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Bethel University women's basketball team closed out the home portion of its regular season schedule with a 68-48 victory Wednesday evening over Gustavus Adolphus inside the Robertson Center.

The win improves the Royals to 18-6 on the year and 12-5 in MIAC play. It also earns them another chance to play at home as they open up the MIAC Playoffs as the No. 3 seed next Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. inside the Robertson Center. The Royals close out the regular season Saturday at Hamline. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.

Three starters scored in double figures for Bethel in Wednesday night's win. Junior forward Taite Anderson and sophomore forward Makenna Pearson showed the way with 14 points each. Senior center Hannah Johnson narrowly missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net early, but it was Bethel who ran away with it. The Royals scored the game's first four points keeping the Gusties off the scoreboard until the 7:10 mark in the first. Gustavus (13-11, 10-7 MIAC) battled back to cut the Royal lead to 8-6 with 5:13 left in the period. Tessah Anderson knocked down a jumper to start an 8-0 run to close the period as Bethel took an 18-7 lead after the opening 10 minutes.  

The second period was not any different as Bethel held Gustavus Adolphus to seven second quarter points. Bethel held a lead of 17 points on four separate occasions before a free throw by Schwarz tallied the Royals largest lead at 33-14. BU took the 19 point lead into the locker room on 12-of-26 (46.2) shooting and forced Gustavus to 16 first half turnovers.

Bethel extended its margin in the early stages of the third quarter building a 38-16 lead on a 3-pointer from Tessah Anderson with 8:45 left. A layup by Paige Richert of Gustavus pulled it back within 20, but the Royals responded. A strong defensive effort by BU kept Guatvus off the scoreboard for the next 4:47 to open the lead up to 29 points. The Gusties chipped away knocking down five free throws in the final three and a half minutes. A step back 3-pointer by Pearson nearly beat the horn to give the Royals its largest lead to that point at 56-25.

Freshman guard Erin Tupy took over off the bench in the fourth. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers before a free throw down the stretch capped her seven point quarter. The Royals finished the game shooting 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range and were 25-of-52 (48.1 percent) from the floor.