ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team looked to be on the way to avenging one of its MIAC losses from earlier this season Saturday afternoon against Bethel.
 
The Blazers led by three points at halftime, and kept finding ways to score in the third and fourth quarters. The Blazers used a jumper from Macy Kelly and a free throw from Niki Fokken to go up three, 48-45, with six minutes left to play, but that's the last time they scored until the final 20 seconds of the game.
 
In that time, Bethel went on a 10-2 run to come away with a 55-50 win in Claire Lynch Hall to secure the season sweep of CSB. The loss snapped the Blazers' four-game winning streak and bumped CSB from a tie for second to fifth in the MIAC. Saint Benedict is now 13-6 overall and 8-4 in the league with six conference games left in the regular season.
 
CSB led the Royals (11-8, 7-5) 29-26 at halftime thanks to six straight points from Morgan Merritt. The Blazers pushed their lead to five, 31-26, on a jumper by Chelsey Guetter to start the third, but the Royals tied the game at 31. Fokken scored, Grace Wolhowe hit a three and Annie Dittberner completed a four-point play after being fouled on a free throw to push CSB's lead back to six, 37-31, with 5:06 left in the third, but that's the biggest lead either team would have for the rest of the game.
 
CSB took a four-point lead on a jumper by Fokken with three minutes left in the third, but the Royals tied the game at 39 heading into the final quarter. The Blazers were able to take their three-point lead with six minutes left in the game, but after that they were held scoreless until Wolhowe hit a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.
 
Saint Benedict went on a 7-2 run to start the game, but Bethel went on an 8-2 run to take a 10-2 lead. CSB tied the game at 10 on a pair of free throws by Dittberner, and the Royals led 11-10 at halftime. Bethel went on another short run to snag a four-point lead early in the second, and later went up five, 19-14, with 6:18 left in the half, but Wolhowe hit a three to stop the run and make it a two-point game. Merritt scored six points in the final two minutes of the half to put the Blazers up three heading into halftime.
 
Fokken finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead CSB, which shot 35.4 percent from the field. Dittberner added 10 points and seven rebounds and Kate Banovetz had seven points for CSB. The Blazers hit just two 3-pointers and went 14-for-27 from the line. CSB had 39 rebounds and 19 turnovers.
 
Molly O'Toole led all scorers with 15 points for Bethel and Kalli Zimmermann added 12 points and seven rebounds. The Royals shot 35.3 percent from the field, hit four 3-pointers and went 15-for-26 from the line. Bethel had 35 rebounds and 17 turnovers.
 
CSB is on the road Wednesday, Feb. 3 when it takes on Macalester in St. Paul, Minn. The Blazers are back at home Saturday, Feb. 6, when they host Saint Mary's.