Women's Basketball 2/4/04 -- Bethel 66, Augsburg 59 

BOXSCORE

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (2/4/04) -- JoLynn Thielke scored 22 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and grabbed three assists and three steals, and Jen Ahlberg had 20 points and four rebounds, leading Bethel College to a 66-59 win over Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball game Wednesday night at Bethel's Robertson Center.

Bethel is now 9-11 overall and 7-10 in MIAC play, while Augsburg drops its third game in a row in falling to 4-16 overall, 4-13 in MIAC play.

Bethel built an 11-2 lead in the first 4:57 of play and built a 14-point lead, 23-9 with 12:38 left in the half. But Augsburg stormed back into the game, outscoring Bethel 27-11 the rest of the half, including a 14-2 run over the final 4:02. Ashley Sasek (Jr., Waukesha, Wis./Kettle Moraine HS) and Ashley Vossen (So., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) had seven points each in the final 14-2 run.

Augsburg eventually built a seven-point lead midway through the second half, but Bethel outscored the Auggies 19-5 over the last 8:12 of play, with Thielke and Ahlberg scoring six points each.

Anna Cunningham had 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Royals, who received 56 of its 66 points from three players -- Cunningham, Ahlberg and Thielke.

Vossen hit three 3-pointers and scored 17 points to lead the Auggies, while Sasek had 13 points, five assists and six steals. Katie Kelsey (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) contributed 10 points and four rebounds, with Alissa Blood (Fr., Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) scoring eight points with five rebounds off the bench. Julie Andert * (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) had seven points and five rebounds.

Augsburg was playing without its leading scorer, freshman center Selina Theisen (Fr., Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS), who missed her first career game after suffering an injury against St. Benedict on Saturday. Theisen played 27 minutes and had 13 points in Augsburg's loss at St. Thomas on Monday.

Augsburg shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the field, but was outrebounded 39-34 and suffered from 23 turnovers. Bethel converted 20 points off of the Auggie turnovers, compared to 15 Auggie points off of 16 Royal turnovers. Bethel had 15 second-chance points off of 18 offensive rebounds, compared to just five second-chance points off of 10 Augsburg offensive rebounds.

Both teams return to MIAC action on Saturday (2/14) at 1 p.m. Augsburg hosts Hamline at Si Melby Hall, while Bethel plays at St. Olaf.