NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Visiting Hamline University started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to take the lead and went on to defeat the St. Olaf College women's basketball team, 69-63, on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (8-10, 5-8 MIAC) led by one, 43-42, after three quarters before Hamline (12-5, 7-5 MIAC) scored seven-straight points to begin the fourth quarter. The decisive run was just the second lead change of the game after the Oles rallied from 13 down in the second quarter to grab their first lead of the game in the third quarter.
Reilly Geistfeld scored a game-high 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including 4-for-8 from behind the arc, and added a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the way for the Pipers. Lydia Lecher added 13 points for Hamline, which outscored St. Olaf by a 20-2 margin from the free-throw line.
Sophomore
K'Lynn Lewis registered a team-high 18 points, including four made three-pointers, for St. Olaf, while senior
Ella Skrien added 12. Junior
Keegan Mulvihill recorded nine points and a career-high-tying 11 rebounds.
Four Oles made multiple three-pointers in the loss and St. Olaf's 11 three-point makes were tied for the program's most since making 13 in a 78-69 win over St. Scholastica on Dec. 31, 2016. St. Olaf also made 11 three-pointers against Concordia-Moorhead on Jan. 5, 2019.
Hamline started the game on an 11-2 run over the first six minutes and had four of its five made field goals in the opening 10 minutes come from behind the arc. Geistfeld and Sophie Findell made two three-pointers each in the opening 10 minutes to help the Pipers to a 16-8 lead after one.
In the second, Hamline stretched its lead to 13, 24-11, two and a half minutes in after back-to-back three-pointers from Geistfeld and Lecher. St. Olaf responded with an 11-2 run, keyed by three three-pointers from Lewis, to cut the deficit to three midway through the quarter and went into the half down just two, 32-30, after making five threes in the quarter.
A jumper by Lewis with 7:24 left in the third quarter gave the Oles their first lead of the game at 34-33. St. Olaf started the quarter on a 13-4 run to take its largest lead of the game, 43-36, with 3:13 to go. Despite making just two field goals in the quarter, the Pipers trailed by just two, 43-42, entering the fourth after scoring the final six points of the third.
Hamline put together a 7-0 run in the first 49 seconds of the fourth quarter to reclaim the lead at 49-43. Mulvihill hit a three-pointer on the next possession to make it a three-point game but that was as close as St. Olaf would get, as the Pipers scored the next five points to push the lead back to eight. The Oles cut a nine-point deficit to four with 37 seconds remaining before Lecher knocked down 3-of-4 free throws to seal the win.
St. Olaf visits St. Catherine University in St. Paul for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday, Feb. 1.
