ST. PAUL, Minn. – Makenna Pearson, Hayden Glander and Courtney Nuest all produced double figures in the scoring column as the Bethel University women's basketball team slipped to Hamline Wednesday evening, 77-66.
 
Nuest led the squad with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Pearson added 16 points and seven rebounds while Glander tallied 14 points. Bella Williams added seven assists and seven steals.
 
The Royals had their highest scoring quarter of the night in the fourth, but Hamline got the job done at the free throw line. Bethel trailed by as many as 13 before Pearson turned a Pipers' turnover into two points in the lane making it 72-66 with under a minute to go.
 
Hamline had already done its damage though sealing it at the free throw line, where they were 14-of-17 in the fourth alone, making its final five attempts.
 
Bethel opened the game on a 6-0 run which would be the largest lead by either team in the opening half. Despite trailing by one after the first 10 minutes, a pair of threes from Nuest and one from Garfield in the second quarter sent Bethel into the locker room dead even with the Pipers at 34.
 
The Pipers opened things up in the third shutting the Royals down for a three-minute stretch where an 8-0 run made it 51-43. Nuest connected on a three-point play with 44 seconds left making the Royals deficit five heading into the fourth.
 
Now 1-5 on the year and 0-3 in MIAC play, the Royals look to snap a five-game losing skid Saturday at St. Catherine. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. in St. Paul.