NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team cut a 21-point halftime deficit to single digits four times in the fourth quarter in a 71-61 loss to Gustavus Adolphus College on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.

Gustavus (6-1, 4-1 MIAC) forced 17 first-half turnovers and turned them into 24 points on its way to a 45-24 lead at the break before St. Olaf (3-5, 0-5 MIAC) fought back in the second half. The Oles turned the ball over just six times after halftime and shot 56.0 percent (14-for-25) from the field over the final 20 minutes.

Senior Sophie Olmen led the second half charge, scoring 11 of her season-high 16 points after halftime, and finished the game shooting 6-for-9 from the field, including going 3-for-5 from three-point range. After playing just six minutes due to foul trouble in the first half, senior Rachel Kelly scored all 10 of her points in the second half for the Oles.

Anna Sanders, Kylie Baranick, and Izzy Quick all scored 10 points to lead a balanced offensive attack for Gustavus, which shot just 8-for-24 (33.3 percent) from the field after the break after the hot-shooting first half. The Gusties held advantages of 30-4 in points off turnovers, 24-11 in bench points, 36-20 in points in the paint, and 14-2 in fast-break points in the game.

Nine Gusties scored in the first quarter, as the visitors shot 11-for-16 (68.8 percent) from the field to take a 27-13 lead after 10 minutes. After sophomore Paige Yagodinski got the Oles on the board a minute and a half in, Gustavus went on an 11-0 run to open up a 14-2 lead and led by double figures for the rest of the first half. The Gusties cooled off to 40.0 percent shooting (6-for-15) in the second quarter but forced 10 turnovers to extend their lead to 45-24 at the half after outscoring the Oles by an 18-11 margin in the second.

St. Olaf scored on five of its first six possessions in the third quarter to trim its deficit to 12 at 48-36 just 2:27 into the quarter following a three-pointer by sophomore Sarah Tangen. Gustavus quickly pushed its lead back to 17 by scoring the next five points, but back-to-back jumpers by Olmen in the final two minutes of the quarter again made it a 12-point game. Olmen had 10 of her 16 points in the third quarter, including scoring the final seven points of the quarter for St. Olaf, to help whittle the Gusties' lead to 62-48 after three.

A three-pointer by senior Grace Hegland and a pair of buckets by Kelly over the first 3:03 of the fourth quarter brought St. Olaf within nine at 64-55, which was the first time the game was within single digits since it was 10-2 three minutes in. After climbing within nine three times in the fourth, the Oles got as close as eight at 69-61 on a Kelly three-pointer with 35 seconds to go before the Gusties closed out their 15th-straight win in the series.

St. Olaf hosts St. Catherine University on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. at Skoglund Center.