NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team dropped its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener in overtime, 63-59, to the College of Saint Benedict on Saturday afternoon at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (3-1, 0-1 MIAC) led for 32:09 in the game and held a four-point lead with 1:31 remaining in the fourth quarter before Saint Ben's (2-0, 1-0 MIAC) got back-to-back baskets from Olivia Boily over the final 1:08 of regulation to send the game to overtime. The two teams combined for just three made field goals in the extra session, but a three-point play by Lydia Hay with 16 seconds to go helped the Bennies snatch the win.

Sophomore Paige Yagodinski scored a team-high 14 points to go with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals for St. Olaf, which got double-doubles from seniors Grace Hegland and Rachel Kelly in the loss. Hegland recorded her second double-double in four games this season with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Kelly had 11 points, 14 rebounds, and seven blocked shots.

The Oles raced out to a 10-2 lead over the first four-plus minutes of the game, as four of St. Olaf's five starters scored early on. The Bennies, however, held St. Olaf to five points over the final 5:54 of the quarter to trail by just two, 15-13, after 10 minutes. Yagodinski had seven of her 14 points in the opening quarter.

St. Olaf matched its largest lead of the game at 24-16 with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter following a layup by senior Cassie Fix and continued to lead by eight after a three-pointer by Yagodinski with 2:52 to go until halftime. Sophia Jonas hit her third three-pointer in as many attempts in the quarter at the buzzer to make it a 32-28 game at the half.

The CSB defense forced St. Olaf into seven turnovers compared to three made field goals in the third quarter to help the visitors to a 43-42 lead through three. Kelly and Fix hit back-to-back three-pointers in the first two minutes of the quarter, but a layup by Kelly with 6:37 remaining was the only other made field goal of the period for the Oles.

Layups by Fix and Yagodinski on consecutive possessions gave St. Olaf a 53-50 lead with 3:33 to play in regulation. The Oles led 56-52 after a free throw by Olmen with 1:31 to go, but the Bennies got back-to-back layups by Boily on either side of an Oles' turnover to tie the game at 56-56 with 33 seconds on the clock.

St. Olaf had the ball with a chance to go ahead with 18 seconds remaining but committed a turnover out of a timeout, as the game eventually went to overtime. In the extra session, a jumper by senior Sophie Olmen with 2:46 to go gave St. Olaf a 59-58 edge, but that was the final points the Oles would get.

After suffering its first loss of the season, St. Olaf hits the road for its next three games, beginning with a 7:15 p.m. tip-off at Concordia-Moorhead on Tuesday, Nov. 22.