A four-and-a-half minute stretch early in the second quarter proved to be the difference in St. Ambrose's 74-61 loss to Indiana Northwest Wednesday night at Lee Lohman Arena.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, St. Ambrose held a 16-14 lead on two Anna Plumer free throws one minute into the second period. That's when the Bees hit a dry spell. SAU missed its next eight shots from the floor and committed three turnovers, and the RedHawks took advantage. IUNW went 6-of-7 from the floor in ripping off a 15-0 run. Abby Wolter ended the St. Ambrose drought with 4:18 left in the half but by then the Bees faced a 29-18 deficit.

IU Northwest (15-5, 10-2 CCAC) led by as many as 16 points in the quarter before Plumer and Jaynee Prestegaard each contributed four points during a 10-2 run to cut the margin to 36-28 at the half.

St. Ambrose (12-7, 8-4 CCAC) got as close as six points after a Mel Stewart basket made the score 40-34, but IU Northwest responded with four straight points to restore a double-digit lead.

The Bees made a final push in the fourth. Caitlyn Thole scored inside and was fouled to trim the margin to 62-55 midway through the final quarter. But she was unable to finish the three-point play and the RedHawks answered with a 6-0 run to push the lead to 68-55 with four minutes left. SAU was unable to threaten again.

Stewart led four Bees in double figures with 17 points. Plumer scored 14, Wolter finished with 11 and Thole added 10 and a team-high five rebounds and three assists.

St. Ambrose shot just 40 percent from the field and connected on 2-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc. In large part to the big second-quarter run, IU Northwest shot 50 percent from the floor to become the first opponent to shoot better than 47 percent against the Bees.

Prestegaard finished with six points, four boards and three blocked shots in the loss. Caroline Cool and Olivia Cantu combined for three points off the SAU bench.

The Bees will visit Trinity Christian Saturday.