ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Bethel University women's basketball team held a lead as big as 24 points in the second quarter, before being outscored 47-29 in the second half and eventually falling 68-67 to St. Catherine on last second free throws.
With 25.4 seconds remaining,
Anna Garfield played through contact as her layup put BU up 65-64. The Wildcats answered on the other end out of a timeout getting a floater to fall. Advancing the ball with a timeout of their own, the Royals got the inbound to Garfield who drew a foul with under nine seconds to go. She'd hit both ends of the free throw to go up 67-66.
With 0.2 seconds remaining the Wildcats threw up a prayer from way beyond the arc, but would draw a foul on Garfield, who thought she had a clean block. Hattie Fox of St. Kate's connected on 2-of-3 free throw attempts making the final score 68-67.
Emily Erickson knocked down her first three of the game closing out a 15-3 run for Bethel through the opening seven minutes of the game.
Lauren Johnson nailed her own 3-point attempt to close out the first quarter that saw Bethel lead 25-6 thanks to a 66.7 percent shooting mark.
In the second
Elly Schmitz would drive to the paint for a layup drawing a foul and hitting the free throw attempt to give the Royals a 24-point lead, their largest of the night, putting them up 31-7. Holding the Wildcats to four field goals in the opening half, BU would take a 38-21 lead into the locker room.
St. Kate's came out strong to start the second half cutting the deficit to eight, before a pair of three pointers from Garfield and
Colette Duininck would give Bethel a 44-33 lead.
The Wildcats then went on a 13-0 run over a 5:30 stretch taking their first lead of the night with five seconds left in the third. Garfield closed out the third with a game tying 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer making it 46-46.
The final 10 minutes saw five lead changes and five times. In the fourth BU shot 54.5 percent while the Wildcats shot 61.5 percent.
Garfield finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Erickson added 16 points while
Elly Schmitz contributed 13 points. Schmitz Also added seven boards.
The loss drops Bethel to 12-10 on the season and 10-7 in MIAC conference play. The Royals will look to rebound on Wednesday night hosting St. Scholastica. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
