NAPLES, Fla. – The Salisbury University women's basketball team finished off its Florida trip against Bethel University on day two of the Naples Shootout, but fell to the 20th-ranked Royals, 63-43.

THE RUNDOWN

Final Score: Bethel 63, Salisbury 43

Records: Bethel (10-0) | Salisbury (7-7)

Location: Community School of Naples – Naples, Fla.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bethel jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the contest, but Salisbury battled back with back-to-back three-pointers from Lauren Fortescue and Kolby Brown to move ahead 6-5 with 6:37 remaining in the first quarter.
• The Sea Gulls still held a slim 10-9 lead with 3:07 to play in the first, but the Royals scored five of the final seven points to claim a 14-12 edge as the quarter came to a close.
• Bethel came on strong to start the second quarter with a 10-0 run to move ahead 24-12 with 7:08 remaining in the half. Baskets from Brown, Amber Onyekwere, and Kaylee Otlowski helped pull Salisbury back within six at 24-18 with 5:20 on the clock.
• The Royals scored the next six points to push the lead back to 12, but an Otlowski jumper closed the half for the Sea Gulls as they headed to the locker room down 30-20.
• The third quarter began with an 11-1 run by the Royals who saw their lead grow to 41-21 with 3:56 to play.
• A Jada Welbon three-pointer on the next possession spurred an 8-4 Salisbury run to close the quarter with the Sea Gulls still tralining, 45-29.
• Bethel began the fourth quarter with a 10-7 run that saw the Royals lead grow to 21 at 57-36 with 4:42 remaining in the game.
• Five straight points from Fortescue followed and the Sea Gulls out-scored the Royals 7-6 in the final minutes, but it wasn't enough as Bethel held on to win, 63-43.

GAME NOTES

• Lauren Fortescue led Salisbury with 13 points and four steals in the loss.
• Kaylee Otlowski scored 11 points with three steals while leading the team with eight rebounds.
• Kolby Brown contributed across the board as well, scoring seven points, pulling in seven rebounds and adding a pair of assists in 26 minutes of action.
• Bethel shot 48.2 percent from the field while holding Salisbury to 31.5 percent. The Royals also held a slight edge in three-point shooting, going 5-for-15 (33.3%) while the Sea Gulls shot 5-for-16 (31.3%) form long-range.

UP NEXT

• The team will begin the conference portion of its regular season when it travels to take on Southern Virginia on Saturday, January 11 beginning at 1 p.m.
• Live stats will be available during the contest.