It probably wasn't the way HU head women's basketball coach Alex Focke wanted to see it happen. However, as Shakespeare once observed, "All's well that ends well." 

The Pipers shook off a rough start which saw them trail by 13 points in the first quarter to turn on the gas down the stretch and defeat Viterbo, 69-61, Saturday at Hutton Arena. Hamline has its second three-game winning streak of the season and will enter the 2019 phase of their schedule with an overall standard of 7-4. 

Reilly Geistfeld took advantage of multiple trips top the free throw line to register 19 points with Kaeli Stayer adding 12 and Chan'el Anderson-Manning kicking in 11. All that played a big part in the win but so did folks like Morgen Coleman (team high 10 rebounds), Gabby Robinson  (all nine of her points were in the second half) and Sarah Loken (52) who grabbed all three of her rebounds in the last 20 minutes of play. 

HU trailed 21-8 after 7:15 of play. They worked it down to 24-14 by the end of the first quarter and kept attacking in the second frame, leaving the court one in arrears at 30-29. The third session was tight, going back and forth until Geistfeld hit a pair of free throws to give Hamline the lead at 46-44 after three. Three pointers from Robinson and Coleman expanded the lead to six. Later,a pair of Coleman free throws(The Pipers were 30-for-38 for the day from the line) upped the margin to eight and HU held the V-Hawks at arm's length the rest of the way. 

Hamline held a 41-37 edge in  rebounds, a whopping 14-3 advantage in steals (Anderson-Manning had four and is second in the MIAC with 33. As a team, HU leads the loop in Free Throws Made and Attempted) and a solid 22-11 lead in points off turnovers. 

Alyssa Nilseen sscored 16 points and led all rebounds for Viterbo (6-6) with 11. Ambree Schlosser pitched in 15.

HU is now idle until January 2, 2019 when they return to MIAC play against St. Mary's at Hutton Arena. Game time is 7:00 p.m.