ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team traveled to No. 9 Bethel Thursday for a MIAC semifinal matchup and fell 70-62. The Gusties finish their season 18-8 overall, while the Royals move to 25-1 with the win.
After the Royals jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the early going, the Gusties were able to answer and even things at nine following a Gabby Bowlin (Jr., Winona) jumper. The teams would then go basket for basket for the final four and a half minutes, going to the second quarter tied at 15.
The Gusties gained the upper hand early in the second quarter, building their first lead of the game. After each team scored to start the second quarter the Gusties went on a 9-2 run capped off by a Maddy Rice (Fy., Forest Lake) three pointer to take a 26-19 lead. Bethel would slowly crawl back into things, ending the quarter on 12-5 run to tie things up at 31 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Royals were able to retake their lead in the early going at 40-35. The Gusties would pull the lead within two a few times, but headed to the fourth trailing 48-46.
Gustavus would get over the hump, scoring the first three points to regain the lead. The two teams would trade punches for a few minutes before the Black and Gold pushed its lead to 58-55 with just over six minutes to play. Trailing 66-62 the Gusties would get a layup from Caitlin Rorman (Fy., Blue Earth) with 2:08 remaining to trim the lead to four. That was all they could muster though, as Bethel scored the final four points of the contest to take the 70-62 victory.
Rorman led the Gusties in scoring with 15 points. Anna Sanders (Fy., Vadnais Heights) added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Marisa Gustafson (Jr., Mahtomedi) scored 11.