SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team saw its halftime lead quickly dissipate in the third quarter Saturday in a 53-47 loss to Bethel. The Gusties and Royals split the season series as Gustavus drops to 11-3 overall and 9-2 in the MIAC.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the loss but there are a lot of positives that you can take from the game,” Head Coach Laurie Kelly said. “This allows us to reset with three weeks to go in the regular season. If you look at the stats it really just came down to making shots. I thought on defense we did well strategically in taking away what they were trying to do and we got some of their players in foul trouble early.”
The first half got off to a slow start with limited offense and multiple turnovers. The Gusties led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter and the second quarter featured a combined 16 points between the two teams as the home team carried a 20-16 advantage into the locker room at half.
Bethel found momentum to start the third quarter and went on a 14-5 run in the first five minutes, gaining a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the game. The Gusties were able to cut the lead to 32-31 with 27 seconds left in the third, but that would be the closest they would get. The Royals answered with eight consecutive points and held the Gusties at bay.
Gustavus shot a pedestrian 26.8 percent from the field and was just 1-for-16 from three-point range. The Royals shots 35.6 percent. Rebounding went in favor of the Gusties by a 35-29 margin. Turnovers were not in short supply as both teams committed 19.
Emma Kniefel (So., Medford) led the team with 10 points. Grace Benz (Sr., Steele, N.D.) hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds with eight on the offensive end.
Gustavus next travels to St. Olaf on Wednesday night.