ST. PAUL, Minn. – Host St. Catherine University used a 14-0 fourth-quarter run to defeat the St. Olaf College women's basketball team, 61-49, on Saturday afternoon in the Oles' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener at the Butler Center.

St. Olaf (1-1, 0-1 MIAC) led 46-45 with 6:40 to go after a three-pointer by junior Sophie Olmen, but St. Kate's (2-3, 1-1 MIAC) held the Oles scoreless for the next 5:57 during a 14-0 run. After Olmen's three-pointer, the Wildcats kept St. Olaf off the scoreboard until a three-point play by junior Cassie Fix with 43 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Cayden Botten and senior K'Lynn Lewis led a balanced scoring attack with nine points each for the Oles, who could not overcome 31.9-percent shooting (15-for-47) from the field and 21 turnovers. Botten hit two of her three attempts from behind the arc and added eight rebounds in the loss.

Junior Grace Hegland was 4-for-4 from the field to score eight points, while Fix and Olmen had seven points apiece. Olmen added a career-high 11 rebounds as well.

St. Kate's jumped out to a 15-7 lead over the game's first seven-plus minutes and maintained the eight-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Still down by eight three minutes into the second quarter, St. Olaf went on a 7-0 run over the span of 3:31 to make it a one-point game with 3:47 remaining in the first half. Botten started the run with a three-pointer before layups by Hegland and Lewis got the Oles within a point.

The Wildcats pushed their lead back to seven, 35-28, with 1:36 to go in the half, but the Oles scored seven of the last eight points of the half to cut their deficit back to one, 36-35, at halftime. Botten closed the half with a three-point play with nine seconds remaining to help St. Olaf outscore St. Kate's, 23-16, in the quarter.

The Oles scored the first six points of the second half, including Botten's second three-pointer of the game, to take their largest lead of the game at 41-36 with 5:04 to go in the third quarter. St. Olaf held St. Kate's scoreless for the first 6:14 of the quarter before the hosts closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 43-41 lead into the fourth.

The teams combined for just one basket apiece over the first three-plus minutes of the fourth quarter before Olmen's three-pointer put the Oles on top by a point. From that point on, St. Olaf missed eight-straight shots and committed six turnovers during the decisive 14-0 run for St. Kate's.

The Wildcats shot just 34.9 percent (22-for-63) in the game but enjoyed a 41-12 advantage in bench points and scored 21 points off turnovers in the win. Kylie Wood scored a team-high 14 points off the bench for St. Kate's.

St. Olaf travels to Gustavus on Tuesday, Nov. 23 for a 7 p.m. tip-off in its lone game of the week.