BILLINGS, Mont. – Fifth-seeded Lindsey Wilson women's basketball knocked off fourth-seeded Bethel (Tenn.) 60-49 on Wednesday afternoon in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the MetraPark.

Lindsey Wilson advances to face first seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, March 15. Freed-Hardeman defeated Dillard (La.) 63-53 in their opening round matchup.

The Blue Raiders (23-10) used a strong defensive effort in the game to pick up the win as they held Bethel (28-6) well below their 77.1 points per game average. The Wildcats came into the game with the nation's best rebounding margin at plus 12.9, but LWC would manage a slight 40-39 advantage on the glass.

Lindsey Wilson attacked the paint offensively, resulting in 30 free-throw attempts and 22 of the Blue Raiders total points.

Reagan Turner guided the Blue Raiders offense throughout the game as she managed to score a game-high 27 points. The sophomore did so on 7-of-14 shooting from the field while cashing in on 11-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe. J'Nayah Hall added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Turner poured in the first four points of the contest and sparked an 11-2 run by the Blue Raiders over six minutes of play. LWC produced four turnovers over the opening minutes of the game to help facilitate their run.

The Wildcats would challenge LWC as they were able to outscore Lindsey Wilson 17-7 over the next 8:23 of play, extending into the second quarter. The scoring spurt gave Bethel their first lead at 19-18 with just over four minutes gone in the second.

Lindsey Wilson would struggle from the field in during the Bethel run, scoring all of their points from the charity stripe. They wouldn't connect from the field for over 8:18 of action until Heidi Huffman knocked down a deep three-pointer to give the lead back to LWC at 25-23. Lindsey Wilson would manage that two-point lead into halftime at 30-28.

The Blue Raiders were firing on all cylinders coming out of the break as they connected on 4-of-7 attempts from the field to take a 10 point advantage. The Wildcats would trim the LWC advantage to six points with just over six minutes to play but Lindsey Wilson would extend their lead to as many as 11 before taking a 48-38 lead into the final quarter.

Lindsey Wilson would control the action in the fourth as they extended their lead to as many as 14 before ultimately taking the contest 60-49.

The Blue Raiders finished the game making 34 percent (17-of-50) of their shots from the field while limiting the Wildcats to 30.6 (19-of-62) percent from the floor.

The Wildcats Myah Taylor was the only player for Bethel in double figures as she recorded 26 points on 11-of-31.

Lindsey Wilson is off on Thursday before returning to the RimRock Auto Arena floor to take on No. 1-seed Freed-Hardeman on Friday at 10 a.m. CT.