Oshkosh, Wis. - DePauw trailed Bethel (Minn.) by 11 in the first half and came back to take the lead at the end of the third period, but the Royals scored the first seven points of the fourth on the way to a 71-65 win over the Tigers in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Championship. The Tigers finished the season at 20-7, while the Royals improved to 23-5 and advanced to tomorrow's second-round game.

DePauw jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest, but the Royals scored five straight on the way to grabbing a 15-12 lead at the quarter break.

Bethel extended the lead to 19-12 before Ava Hassel stopped the run with a 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the half. The Tigers went nearly five minutes without a field goal as the Royals pushed the lead to double digits.

Emily Erickson hit two free throws with 1:20 left in the half to give Bethel its largest lead at 35-24. Lily Huntzinger made two free throws and Hassel converted a layup to cut the halftime deficit to 35-28.

The Royals led, 38-30, before Riley Mont hit a bucket and a 3-pointer and Hassel chipped in a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to 38-37 with 6:34 remaining in the third.

After DePauw tied the contest at 42-42, Bethel scored the next five on Colette Duininck's trey and Anna Garfield's fast break layup, but DePauw came right back with baskets from Mont, Hassel and Lyla Barr on consecutive possessions to give the Tigers a 48-47 lead. Rosalie Penke countered with a bucket before Mont buried a late three to give the Tigers a 51-49 advantage at the end of the third.

Penke's three-point play gave the Royals the lead again and Bethel converted two DePauw turnovers into baskets to extend the lead to 56-51 with 8:01 left.

DePauw's first points of the fourth came on Hassel's free throw with 6:20 remaining and she also recorded the Tigers' first field goal of the stanza with 4:20 left to cut the Bethel lead to 59.55.

The Tigers closed to within one three times, but each time Bethel answered. Moira McGinley's basket with 31 seconds left closed the gap to 64-63 before Garfield knocked in a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left.

A DePauw turnover led to Elly Schmitz hitting 1-of-2 free throws to make it 67-63. Hassel scored with 18 seconds remaining, but Dunnick hit a pair of free throws at the 15-second mark to extend the lead to 69-65. 

The Tigers turned the ball over on their next possession and Schmitz nailed the final two free throws of the game to seal the victory.

Hassel led all scorer's with a season-high 24 points, while Mont added 22 and four steals. Barr grabbed seven rebounds with Hassel and Ainsley Boras each dishing out three assists.

Garfield paced Bethel with 17 points followed by Schmitz and Erickson with 14 each and Duininck with 10. Garfield had seven rebounds, while Lydia Hay totaled five assists and Schmitz finished with four steals.

DePauw shot 36.5 percent from the field to Bethel's 48.1 percent and the Tigers held a 37-25 rebounding edge.

DePauw's seniors (Lyla Barr, Ainsley Boras, Caroline Condra, Ava Hassel, Moira McGinley and Asya Smith) finished with a four-year record of 84-27.