NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team used a 12-0 run to start the third quarter to double a double-digit-point lead and went on to defeat the College of St. Scholastica, 67-59, on Senior Night on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (8-17, 7-15 MIAC) held a 29-26 lead at halftime but broke the game open over the first 3:05 of the second half by scoring on its first five possessions of the half. After trailing by as many as 17 in the third quarter, St. Scholastica (3-21, 3-19 MIAC) cut its deficit to five early in the fourth quarter but could get no closer.
On her Senior Night,
K'Lynn Lewis scored a season-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting to lead the way for the Oles, who got a 19-point, 20-rebound double-double from junior
Rachel Kelly. Kelly was 9-for-13 from the field and pulled down seven offensive rebounds in the win. Junior
Sophie Olmen was also in double figures with 13 points and six boards for St. Olaf, which shot 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the field.
Lewis had five early points to help the Oles jump out to an 8-4 lead after scoring eight-straight points. St. Olaf led for over seven minutes in the first quarter, but St. Scholastica took a 14-13 lead after 10 minutes thanks to a jumper by Liz Frase in the final seconds. Frase had seven of her nine points in the game in the first quarter.
Miranda Broberg scored six-straight points for the Saints to give the visitors a 21-19 lead midway through the second quarter, but the Oles responded with an 8-0 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 27-21 with 2:37 to go. Olmen scored seven points in the quarter to help St. Olaf take a 29-26 lead into the locker room after holding St. Scholastica to 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) shooting in the second quarter.
Lewis and Kelly combined for 21 of St. Olaf's 22 points in the third quarter – including all 12 in the 12-0 run to start the third quarter – as the Oles hit five of their first six shots from the field and held the Saints scoreless until a three-pointer by Broberg 3:15 in. After the Broberg three-pointer, St. Olaf scored the next five points to take its largest lead of the game at 46-29 with 5:38 remaining. St. Scholastica whittled its deficit to eight, 51-43, after three quarters by closing the quarter on a 9-2 run.
In the fourth quarter, a three-pointer by Karli Nixon with 7:38 left brought the Saints within five, 53-48, but the Oles scored the next five points to push their lead back to double figures. St. Olaf led by at least six the rest of the way. The Oles were an efficient 6-for-8 from the field in the fourth quarter.
Broberg was 8-for-16 from the field, including going 7-for-14 from behind the arc, while scoring a game-high 27 points for St. Scholastica. Nixon and Frase added nine points apiece for the visitors, who shot 20-for-60 (33.3 percent) from the field and 11-for-33 (33.3 percent) from three-point range.
With the win and results elsewhere in the conference, St. Olaf landed the No. 9 seed in the MIAC Playoffs and will visit No. 8 seed Saint Mary's in the first round on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m.
