MANKATO, Minn. - The Martin Luther College women's basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 75-64 defeat at Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) in the first round of the UMAC Postseason Tournament on Thursday.

The two teams went back and forth in the opening 20 minutes, and the third-seeded Vikings were able to take a 34-30 lead into the half. BLC's Hannah Geisfeld was a tough match up for MLC all night and scored 16 points in the first half to lead all players, while Erika Gosch kept the Knights within striking distance with 12 points of her own through two quarters.

BLC looked to pull away in the third quarter, pushing its lead as high as nine points several times, but the Knights would not back down and cut their deficit to only three points (53-50) heading into the fourth and final period.

In the final frame, the Knights continued to battle, but could not cut any further into the deficit as the Vikings slowly built their lead into double figures and finished off the win.

Geistfeld proved to be a tough cover for the Knights, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and going 9-10 from the free throw line (all in the second half). BLC finished the night shooting 50.9 percent from the field, and out-scored MLC 16-8 from the charity stripe. 

Gosch countered with a career-high 23 points for MLC, shooting 8-18 overall and 3-9 from beyond the three-point arc. Emily Witkowski added 15 points and five assists in her final game for the Knights, while Anna Treder and Emma Nelson combined for 17 rebounds down low.

Witkowski finished her career with 1,025 points, good for fourth place in program history.

The Knights finished the season with a 3-10 record following the loss. BLC improved to 7-1 with the win, and advanced to Saturday's semi-final round of the UMAC Postseason Tournament.