NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team led by three after a quarter before Hamline University held the Oles in check over the middle two periods to record a 57-44 win on Saturday afternoon at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (6-12, 5-10 MIAC) used a deep buzzer-beating three-pointer from first year Sarah Tangen to take a 16-13 lead after one quarter, but Hamline (13-4, 11-3 MIAC) limited the Oles to 12 points over the second and third quarters to take a 20-point lead into the fourth. In her return to action, senior K'Lynn Lewis had all eight of her points in the fourth quarter, as St. Olaf outscored the Pipers, 16-9, over the final 10 minutes.

Junior Rachel Kelly – the reigning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week – paced the Oles with 10 points and eight rebounds on a 5-for-10 shooting night. Lewis sank both her three-pointers and made all three of her field goals to score eight points, while junior Sophie Olmen added seven points for St. Olaf, which shot just 29.6 percent (16-for-54) in the game.

Sophie Findell led Hamline with a game-high 12 points, going 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from behind the arc. Lydia Lecher was also in double figures with 11 points for the Pipers, who had 11 players score in the game and overcame 4-for-26 (15.4 percent) shooting from three-point range thanks, in part, to a 34-18 advantage in points in the paint.

Kelly scored the first eight points of the game for St. Olaf over the first 4:12 to give the Oles an early 8-5 lead. Hamline scored six of the next eight points to grab a two-point lead before Olmen hit a three-pointer to swing the lead back to the Oles. With time winding down in the quarter, Tangen hit a three-pointer from the logo to give St. Olaf a 16-13 lead after one.

The Oles maintained their lead until the Pipers went on a 7-0 run over the span of 2:25 to take a 27-21 lead with 2:25 to go in the second. First year Sophia Kormann scored the final three points of the half to trim St. Olaf's deficit to three at the half. Kelly had all 10 of her points in the game in the first half.

Hamline was 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) from the field and held St. Olaf to one field goal in the quarter, outscoring the Oles by a 21-4 margin to open up a 20-point cushion. Hamline led by as many as 22 early in the fourth quarter before St. Olaf trimmed it to 13, 52-39, with 3:52 to go with an 8-0 run capped by three-pointers by first year Paige Yagodinski and Lewis.

Lewis added five more points in the final minute to cap her eight-point, seven-minute return to the lineup after a three-game absence.

St. Olaf wraps up its four-game homestand by opening a basketball doubleheader against Concordia-Moorhead on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m.