MANKATO, Minn. -- The Northwestern College women's basketball team returned to its winning ways on Friday with a 71-57 victory over Bethany Lutheran College.  The win was the Eagles' ninth in the last 10 games.

Northwestern led early in the game, although not by much as the Eagles were only able to earn margins of two and four throughout the first 10 minutes.  That margin eventually grew to six after a made jumper by Tanya Dickey (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake) (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake) before Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) drained a three-pointer to boost the lead to 19-12.  By the time the buzzer had sounded at halftime, the Eagles owned a 33-28 edge.

Bethany Lutheran came back to tie the score several times midway through the second period, which included a 45-44 Vikings lead at one point.  Northwestern answered with a 7-0 run to lead by six before back-to-back threes from Kristin Sczublewski (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) and Katie DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) gave the Eagles a 61-50 edge with 4:30 to play. NWC continued to keep its double-digit buffer before ending the game with a 71-57 victory.

While making 45 percent of its attempts, Northwestern really capitalized on the Vikings' turnovers, scoring 24 points on 19 BLC mistakes.  DeWitt returned to the court after suffering an injury last week to record a game-high 23 points on 9-18 shooting.  Sir added 12 points on a 5-9 performance while Sczublewski finished with 10 points, respectively.

For Bethany Lutheran, Anna Cepak had a team-best 15 points to go with 11 rebounds.  Both Cepek and Nicole Jones recorded double-doubles, as Jones produced 10 points and 10 boards.

Now 14-10 overall and 10-3 in UMAC play, Northwestern will wrap up its conference schedule on Saturday afternoon against Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn.  That game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.