ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – A balanced offensive effort from the No. 3 seeded Bethel University women's basketball team earned the Royals a 66-52 MIAC Playoff opening round win over sixth-seeded Saint Mary's Tuesday evening inside the Robertson Center.

A strong 25-point fourth quarter helped the Royals avenge last season's MIAC Playoff opening loss to Saint Mary's as they hit the 20 win mark for the season. The Royals now travel across the Mississippi River to take on No. 2 seed Augsburg Thursday evening at 7 p.m. inside Si Melby Hall.

Junior Taite Anderson led the way with 17 points and six rebounds. Junior Haylee Barker was not far behind Anderson with 16 points to go along with a game-high six assists. Makenna Pearson chipped in 11 points going 3-of-9 behind the arc while Hannah Johnson grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Off the bench, Tessah Anderson added 10 points.

Bethel opened the game on a 7-2 run through the opening three minutes before the offensive production slowed down. Saint Mary's turned in a 6-0 run themselves to take its first lead of the contest with 4:26 left in the opening quarter. The Anderson sisters led Bethel to the first break rattling off the last four points for the Royals who took an 11-10 lead into the second quarter.

After a stagnant offensive first, the tempo picked up early in the second. A 3-pointer by Barker at the 7:37 mark opened the Bethel lead to 17-12. The Cardinals showed their resilience again taking back the lead via a 3-point play at 20-19 with just over five minutes to go in the half. Another three by Barker aided the Royals to pull away. A layup by Pearson just outside the minute mark gave Bethel its largest lead of the half at nine before taking a 30-25 lead into the intermission.

Full court pressure by Bethel sped up the Cardinals in the second half as the Royals looked to widen its margin. Saint Mary's held the Royals in check as they led by two with 4:10 left in the third following a 3-pointer from Brandi Blattner. A three by Pearson and a layup by Johnson put Bethel back on top 41-38 before the horn.

It was only a matter of time before the Royal offensive would have a breakout quarter. That's exactly what happened in the fourth. An 8-2 run to open the quarter gave Bethel its first double digit lead of the night with 6:57 to go. Saint Mary's came back within nine twice but Tessah Anderson put the nail in the coffin knocking down a shot from long distance to push the lead back to double digits where it stayed the final 3:25.