By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team headed into Wednesday's showdown against Bethel looking to give its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff push a much-needed jump-start.
 
The Royals, however, had other ideas.
 
Bethel outscored Saint Mary's in all four quarters — including 20-15 in the second and 20-13 in the third — as the Royals slowly pulled away in handing Saint Mary's an 86-68 conference setback at Robertson Center Gym.
 
Saint Mary's entered Wednesday's matchup against Bethel tied for fifth with Saint Benedict — one game behind both Bethel and Gustavus — with four games remaining.
 
When the dust settled on Wednesday's conference action, the Cardinals found themselves clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot — one game behind Saint Benedict and one game in front of next Wednesday's opponent, St. Catherine.
 
The Royals came out firing in the first quarter, building a pair of 10-point leads — only to have the Cardinals score nine of the quarter's final 23 points to pull within five, 24-19.
 
Saint Mary's grabbed its first lead since the eight-minute mark of the first quarter, 34-33, on back-to-back baskets by Brandi Blattner (Eyota Minn.) with 2:40 remaining until halftime.
 
Bethel, however, took a page out of Saint Mary's quarter-ending playbook, using an 11-0 run to grab a 10-point, 44-34 advantage at the break.
 
The Royals scored six of the first eight points to open the third quarter and the Cardinals would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
 
Blattner scored a team-high 21 points for the Cardinals, who shot 40.7 percent from the field (24-for-59), but were just 4 of 17 from behind the 3-point line. Saint Mary's also added a 16-for-22 effort from the free throw line.
 
Bethel — which hit on 32 of 62 field goal attempts (51.6 percent) with six 3-pointers and a 16-for-23 effort from the line — put four players in double figures, led by Taite Anderson with 22. Makenna Pearson and Hannah Johnson each chipped in 18 points, and Elizabeth Schwarz added 11 for the Royals (10-5 MIAC, 16-6 overall).
 
The Cardinals (8-7 MIAC, 12-10 overall) return to action on Saturday, heading to Macalester's Leonard Center in St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. MIAC matchup against the Scots.