St. Ambrose spotted Viterbo a 10-0 lead and that proved to be the difference as the Bees fell 81-70 Saturday afternoon in La Crosse, Wis.

SAU missed its first three shots from the floor and committed a pair of early turnovers in falling behind by double figures. A Caitlyn Thole 3-pointer finally got the Bees on the board.

St. Ambrose (11-13, 8-8 CCAC) was just 4-of-15 from the field in the opening quarter to trail 24-14.

The Bees got within seven points at the half and pulled as close as 46-42 on another Thole 3-pointer four minutes into the third quarter. But Viterbo (12-11, 10-6 CCAC) followed with seven straight points to push the margin back to 11.

The lead hovered around double digits the rest of the way.

SAU actually shot better from 3-point range (38.1 percent) than inside the arc (33.3 percent on two-point tries). The V-Hawks shot better than 49 percent from the floor.

The Bees were able to stay close thanks to hitting 20-of-25 free-throw attempts, doubling the V-Hawks point total from the line (10-of-15).

Jayla Stirgus led three Bees in double figures with 17 points.

Abby Wolter finished with 14 points with seven of those coming in the fourth quarter. She also grabbed five rebounds.

Thole added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Payton Calouette scored nine points, Olivia Harter netted seven, Isabella Hutchinson finished with six and Erin Jolin dropped in five in the loss.

St. Ambrose will host Mount Mary Wednesday.