ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team led by 19 at the start of the fourth quarter before St. Catherine University stormed back for a 77-69 overtime victory on Saturday afternoon at the Butler Center.

St. Olaf (5-3, 0-2 MIAC) held a 21-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter and led 56-37 at the start of the fourth, but St. Kate's (4-4, 1-2 MIAC) outscored the Oles by a 40-13 margin over the final 15 minutes to claim the come-from-behind victory. St. Olaf built the big lead after outscoring St. Kate's by a 46-22 margin over the second and third quarters.

After overcoming the big deficit in the fourth, St. Kate's held a 65-63 lead with 27 seconds to go before missing three consecutive free throws to leave the door open for St. Olaf. With less than 10 seconds remaining, sophomore Bree Wilkerson knocked a missed free throw off a St. Kate's player to maintain possession for the Oles, who proceeded to send the game to overtime on a layup by sophomore Chloee Smith in the final seconds.

In overtime, St. Kate's scored its first five points at the free-throw line to go up 70-67 halfway through the five-minute period. Jordyn Peed proceeded to scored the next five points to balloon the Wildcats' lead to 75-67 with 1:15 to go, as the hosts limited the Oles to two field goals in the five-minute period.

Smith recorded her third double-double in the last four games with a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, as the sophomore shot 7-for-16 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range before fouling out with 3:15 left in overtime. Senior Sophia Kormann had a career-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Joy Brandenstein added 13 points for the Oles, who could not overcome 19 turnovers in the loss.

Hattie Fox and Jordyn Peed scored 17 points apiece to lead four Wildcats in double figures in scoring. Rachel Randleman, who entered the game having made three three-pointers on the season, was 4-for-7 from behind the arc on her way to a 16-point performance. Emme Golembiewski neared a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds and went 7-for-10 at the free-throw line after entering the night shooting 10-for-24 (41.7 percent) for the season.

St. Olaf shot 50.0 percent (5-for-10) from the field in the opening quarter but trailed 15-10 after 10 minutes after turning the ball over five times. After trailing 17-10 early in the second, the Oles held the Wildcats scoreless for 4:40 as part of an 11-0 run to take a 21-17 lead midway through the quarter. St. Olaf led 29-22 at the half after going 8-of-10 at the free-throw line and 3-for-4 from three-point range in the second quarter.

In the third, the Oles exploded for 27 points by shooting 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) from the field and 4-for-4 on three-pointers to open up a sizable lead. Smith made a pair of three-pointers in a 12-3 start to the quarter for St. Olaf, which grew its lead to as many as 21 at 51-30 with 1:43 to go in the third.

After being outscored 27-15 in the third, St. Kate's flipped the script in the fourth by outscoring St. Olaf by a 28-9 margin, as the Wildcats held the Oles scoreless until a jumper by Kormann with 4:46 left in the fourth. A layup by Kormann with 2:10 on the clock kept St. Olaf up by three, but Peed answered with a game-tying three-pointer with 1:15 to play to help St. Kate's complete the comeback and get the game to overtime.

The Oles will wrap up 2024 with a trip to nationally-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College on Wednesday, Dec. 11 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.