Mankato, MN - The MLC women's basketball team entered Wednesday's contest with Bethany with two consecutive wins against North Central and Northwestern. The game before was the first meeting between the pair of schools as the Vikings won with one second left on the clock on an offensive put-back (60-58). Tonight's game at Bethany featured less scoring as both teams would have a hard time getting the ball through the hoop. Ultimately, Bethany would come out on top 43-37.

MLC hung around despite their low shooting percentage and forced 26 turnovers from Bethany. The Knights made it 26-24 after Ella Walz knocked down a jump shot with 3:52 left in the third quarter. However, the Vikings went on a 10-1 run to close out the third period after making a couple of 3-pointers, to take a 36-25 lead.

MLC didn't give up, though, and closed the gap in the fourth quarter and made it 41-37 with 3:17 remaining on a layup by Wilhelmina Wenz. From that mark, neither team scored again until the Vikings made two free throws with three seconds left to secure the win in favor of Bethany.

Defensively for the Knights, six players recorded multi-steal games, including Lydia Feidt (5), Anna Kieselhorst (3), Wenz (3), Walz (3), Ava Stein (2), and Ava Walz (2). Wenz also finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, while Stein and Kieselhorst scored nine points apiece to lead MLC in scoring.

MLC will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 7, when they host UW-Superior for Parents' Day at 3 p.m.