NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team fought back from a nine-point deficit after three quarters to claim a 72-69 non-conference victory over North Central University on Wednesday afternoon at Skoglund Center.

North Central (6-6) outscored St. Olaf (5-4) by a 26-14 margin in the third quarter to carry a 58-49 advantage into the fourth. The Oles proceeded to hold the Rams scoreless for the first 6:35 of the final period and held off the visitors in the final two minutes to improve to 4-2 at home this season. The game was just the third meeting – all St. Olaf wins – between the two programs and the first in Northfield.

Sophomore Elise Hahn registered her sixth double-double in nine games this season with a career-high 20 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-best five steals while shooting 9-for-14 from the field. Junior Joy Brandenstein added a season-high 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists, while junior Bree Wilkerson had 13 points, eight rebounds, and four steals in her return from injury. First year Erin Schauer – also in her first game back from being sidelined with an injury – was in double figures for the fifth time in six games this season with 10 points.

Brycelyn Brewster scored a game-high 22 points to go with five rebounds, six assists, and two steals for North Central, which got 11 points from NiNi Davenport. After shooting 66.7 percent (10-for-15) from the field in the third quarter, the Rams were just 4-for-17 (23.5 percent) overall in the fourth.

St. Olaf shot 9-for-18 (50.0 percent) from the field on its way to a 21-17 lead after the first quarter, with seven Oles scoring between two and four points in the period. The Oles led by as many as eight in the quarter after a three-pointer by first year Emmanuelle Sennowo with 1:15 remaining before the Rams scored the final four points to cut their deficit in half.

A three-pointer by Schauer and a layup by Hahn in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter gave St. Olaf its largest lead of the half at nine, but the visitors scored the next nine points to tie it up. The Oles answered with an 8-2 run to go up by six and went into the break up by three, 35-32, behind a 10-point first half from Hahn.

St. Olaf opened the third quarter with back-to-back layups by Hahn and Brandenstein to open up a seven-point cushion, but North Central countered with a 9-3 run to make it a one-point game. The visitors went 4-for-5 from three-point range as part of the 10-for-15 shooting, 26-point quarter that gave the Rams a nine-point lead going to the fourth.

In the fourth, St. Olaf scored the first 12 points before a Keiley Mahseet layup with 3:25 broke the drought for North Central, which missed its first nine shots and had four turnovers in the quarter to that point. Layups by Hahn and Brandenstein extended the Oles' lead to 66-60 with 1:32 remaining, but Davenport and Morian McLendon made threes in the next 1:04 for the Rams to get the visitors within two. Wilkerson made four consecutive free throws on either side of another three-pointer by Davenport to keep St. Olaf up by three before Davenport's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer did not fall.

The Oles will close out 2025 with a trip to Mankato to take on Bethany Lutheran College at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 31.