LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Bethel University women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on the road Friday night against the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
 
Eight different Royals found the scoresheet with Lydia Hay shooting 5-for-9 from the field and leading the team with 11 points. The Royals now fall to 2-1 on the season.
 
Elly Schmitz drove the lane and found the bucket for an early layup to put the Royals ahead 4-3 in the first quarter. An 11-3 run quickly put LaCrosse ahead 14-7 midway through  the first quarter. An Eagle foul sent Macy Littlefield to the free throw line, where she promptly knocked down both attempts to cut the Bethel deficit to four.
 
Lydia Hay knocked one down from beyond the arc to begin the second quarter, pulling the Royals within two at 17-15. Colette Duininck took a steal the length of the court for a fastbreak layup to tie the game at 19, later Alli Born drained a three pointer to give the Royals a 24-21 lead.
 
A LaCrosse foul sent Anna Garfield to the charity stripe, nailing her first free throw attempt to give Bethel their largest lead of the night at 30-23. The Eagles stormed back, closing out the half with a 10-1 run for a 33-31 halftime lead.
 
Bethel reclaimed a one-point lead on a Lydia Hay jumper two and a half minutes into the third. Later in the third Elly Schmitz worked her way into the lane finding the bucket for a layup to put Bethel ahead 44-38.  Anna Garfield nailed a three from beyond the arc to give the Royals a 49-44 lead.
 
The Eagles used an 11-2 run to take a 60-53 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Colette Duininck found the basket with a layup to cut the Bethel deficit to eight with three minutes remaining. LaCrosse closed it out with a 10-2 run, however, winning by a final score of 73-57.
 
Up next:
The Royals head to Arden Hills where they will play their first home game of the season Monday night Nov.25 against St. Catherine in the Robertson Center Gym. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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