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OPENING TIP-OFF
• The Bethel University women's basketball team is set to host the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball First and Second Rounds for the first time in school history after earning the MIAC's automatic bid to the big dance with a 72-70 win over #16/19 Augsburg last Saturday inside the Robertson Center. The Royals welcome in Bethany Lutheran, Edgewood and UW-Oshkosh to the four-team pod in Arden Hills. The winner from this weekend will move to Sectionals set for March 13-14.
• The Royals won the program's first-ever MIAC Playoffs a week after winning the MIAC regular season crown for just the second time in program history. BU claimed the title for the first time since 1993-94 after defeating Augsburg 71-55 in the second to last regular season game.
• Six players from the squad earned MIAC postseason honors this past Wednesday as senior Taite Anderson was named MIAC Player of the Year and Jon Herbrechtsmeyer was named MIAC Coach of the Year. Anderson became the fourth player in program history to become a four-time All-Conference honoree and 18th to receive such accolades in MIAC history. Senior Haylee Barker and junior Makenna Pearson each joined Anderson on the All-Conference list. Along with Barker, junior Bella Williams was named to the All-Defensive Team thanks to a league-leading 108 steals. Newcomer Kat Brown-Erdal earned All-First-Year Team accolades starting in all 27 games so far this season and averaging 8.6 points a contest.
THE MATCHUP
• Bethel opens the NCAA Tournament with Bethany Lutheran (23-3) Friday evening inside the Robertson Center at 7:30 p.m. The winner will take on the winner from game one between Edgewood (25-2) and Wisconsin-Oshkosh (18-10.)
• The Royals and Knights have clashed two other times with Bethel coming out on top in both games. The previous meeting took place on November 20, 2013 when the Royals surpased the century mark 101-53 in front of their home crowd. On November 22, 2011 in Mankato, BU defeated BLC 65-41.
• Bethany Lutheran found its way into the big dance winning the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship marking the second-straight trip for the Knights and second overall apperance in the NCAA Tournament, both of which have come under head coach Lyle Jones. This week Jones was named UMAC Coach of the Year while junior Hanna Geistfeld was named UMAC Player of the Year.
• The key to the Vikings' offense ran through Geistfeld. The junior forward was nearly unstoppable averaging a double-double in 16 conference games. She led the UMAC in scoring (21.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg) while shooting a conference-best 64.0 percent from the field. She put up similar numbers in overall games and tallied 560 total points this season.
