ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- The Royals dealt the Wildcats a tough conference loss on Wednesday night. The teams came into the game tied in the MIAC with identical conference records. When it ended, St. Kate's dropped to sixth place with an 11-8 MIAC record. (Six teams advance to playoffs.) Bethel won with outside shooting: they converted 11 of 23 three-point attempts. Karis Zezza led Wildcat scorers with 13. Sam Orth and Kaylee Miron each had 9.

The first quarter was played evenly, as there were multiple ties and lead changes. Rachel Randleman hit a three to start the scoring. Soon after, Kaylee Miron hit a nice floater to put St. Kate's up 7-6. After the Royals went up by 4, consecutive baskets by Bree Glynn, Maddie Young, and Sam Orth put the Wildcats back on top. A hoop by Bethel knotted things at 16 points at the quarter's end.  Randleman opened the second with another three. But the Royals stayed hot from distance, hitting a total of 6 treys in the first half. St. Kate's countered with points in the paint.  Karis Zezza scored the last 6 Wildcat points in the half, and at the break the score was 29-31 in favor of Bethel.

Zezza stayed hot to start the third, and things stayed close for a while: she scored an early jumper and some free throws, and when she hit a layup with 5:30 on the clock it was a 4-point game. But then the Wildcats struggled to take care of the ball: they coughed up 6 turnovers in the quarter, and the Royals took advantage. When Bethel scored in the final second of the third, they went up 59-44. Three and a half minutes into the final frame Bree Glynn scored on a turn around jumper in the lane, but it was still a 15-point deficit (50-65). Bethel then scored 8 unanswered to take a commanding lead. The Wildcats continued to work  on both ends of the court and managed to put 10 points on the scoreboard in the final 3 minutes.

 The Wildcats head to St. Peter to play the first place Gusties on Saturday at 3 PM.