Senior Claudia Larsen turned in her second straight double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds and Jasmine Demers scored 20, but the Buena Vista women's basketball team came up short down the stretch against Bethel on Saturday as the Royals hung on for an 85-79 victory at the Cornell College Classic.

BVU came all the way back from double-digits down in the third quarter to tie the contest at 69-69 midway through the fourth.  Junior Morgan Muhlbauer, who chipped in with 19 points, hit a big three-point bucket to put the Beavers in front 72-71 with under 5:00 to go, but the Royals answered right back on the next trip down the floor with a trifecta of their own to make it 74-72.  Muhlbauer again tied the game with a pair of free-throws with 3:32 remaining and a bucket by Demers with just over 2:00 to go again tied things up at 76-76.  Muhlbauer calmly sank two more free-throws to put BVU in front 78-76 with 1:28 to play, but the Royals again had an answer on their next trip to tie things yet again.

Bethel then got a three-point play to take a three-point lead, and BVU was held to just a free-throw from there, as the Royals held on for the six-point win.

It was another solid shooting night for the Beavers as they went 30-of-63 overall (47.6 percent) and made 5-of-12 from downtown, but it was the free-throw shooting that again hindered the team.  BVU made just 14-of-24 at the charity stripe, while Bethel made 16-of-19.

Demers was 9-of-18 from the field and also chipped in with four rebounds, four steals and four assists.  Holly Schnieder also scored in double figures with 15 as McKenna Whitehill just missed double figures with nine.  BVU had just two points off the bench in the game.

Buena Vista is now 1-2 on the year and travels to Grinnell College on Tuesday, November 21, for a 7:00pm contest against the Pioneers.