ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team fell behind early and could not recover in a 73-60 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) loss to the College of Saint Benedict on Wednesday evening at Claire Lynch Hall.

Saint Ben's (13-8, 10-8 MIAC) raced out to a 14-2 lead over the first 3:25 of the game and did not look back, leading for 38:58 in the game to complete the regular-season sweep of St. Olaf (7-15, 6-13 MIAC). Junior Rachel Kelly paced the Oles with 17 points and nine rebounds while shooting 7-for-13 from the field in the loss.

Kelly was one of three in double figures in scoring for St. Olaf, along with senior K'Lynn Lewis and first year Paige Yagodinski. Lewis had 16 points and three assists, while Yagodinski added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Gabby Martin led Saint Ben's with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals, while Carla Meyer had 15 points and Sophia Jonas chipped in with 14. The trio combined for all eight of the Bennies' three-pointers in the game. Saint Ben's enjoyed a 24-6 advantage in points off turnovers and a 19-2 cushion in fast-break points.

After Kelly found Lewis for the first basket of the game, the Bennies rattled off 14-straight points while hitting four-straight three-pointers to open up a 14-2 lead. Saint Ben's was 4-for-9 from behind the arc in the opening 10 minutes to take a 23-13 lead into the second quarter.

The Oles limited the Bennies to 11 points in the second quarter but could only muster eight of their own to go into halftime trailing 34-21. To start the third quarter, St. Olaf scored on five of its first seven possessions but still trailed 44-32 with 6:06 to go in the quarter. Jonas and Martin each made two three-pointers in the third quarter to held CSB extend its lead to 56-35 after three.

Lewis scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help the Oles shoot at an 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) clip in the final 10 minutes. St. Olaf cut a 21-point deficit to 11, 68-57, with 2:22 remaining and got as close as nine in the final minute.

The Oles head across town to face red-hot Carleton – winners of five in a row – on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m.