MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team kept pace in the race for a home UMAC semifinal on Saturday with a 70-51 win over Bethany Lutheran College. The win lifts the Cougars to 10-12 (8-4 UMAC) and keeps them tied for second in the UMAC standings.

Minnesota Morris jumped out to a 6-0 lead inside of two minutes at the start of the game, but the offense went cold from there. The Cougars followed that early edge by going more than six minutes without a point. During that time, Bethany Lutheran's Ashley Schindele knocked down three triples to give the Vikings a 9-6 lead. Despite a bucket from Ella Van Kempen in the final seconds, the Cougars went to the second quarter trailing, 17-12.

The Vikings were the next team to suffer a drought on the offensive end. A 7-0 run from Minnesota Morris to start the second quarter was spurred on by five points from Van Kempen and the Vikings went more than three minutes without scoring during that stretch. Consecutive threes from Jadyn Sondrol and Tariq Brownotter extended the Minnesota Morris lead all the way to 31-21 and Haley Wollschlager hit a late three to keep the Cougars up by 10, 36-26, at the half.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair in which Minnesota Morris never extended its lead past 10, but Bethany Lutheran never pulled closer than six. A Wollschlager layup with one second left on the clock staked the Cougars to a 47-38 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes.

A three-pointer from Bethany Lutheran's Sara Kottke at the seven-minute mark of the final frame brought the Vikings back within six one final time, 52-46. That would be as dangerous as things got for the Cougars. Feeding the ball inside to Shelby Mortenson, Minnesota Morris went on an 8-0 run that featured three buckets from the freshman. That pushed the lead to 60-46 as the clock rolled under four minutes. Until a desperation banked-in three in the final seconds, the Vikings were held without a field goal the remainder of the contest. 

Van Kempen finished with a game-high 15 points and added four rebounds and four steals. Jay Kwateh added 13 points and Brownotter ended with 10. Lexus Redthunder hauled in a team-high eight rebounds.

Minnesota Morris wraps up the regular season next weekend with a trip to Wisconsin. First up on Feb. 17 is a 7:15 p.m. tip-off at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.