NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Junior Bree Wilkerson scored a team-high 15 points in her return to the lineup for the St. Olaf College women's basketball team in a 64-50 defeat to the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday afternoon at Skoglund Center.

Wilkerson finished one rebound shy of her first collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds for St. Olaf (5-8, 0-6 MIAC), which was down by just three at halftime before St. Scholastica (9-4, 4-2 MIAC) pulled away in the third quarter. The Saints outscored the Oles by a 20-11 margin in the third to build a 12-point cushion and saw out the win in the fourth.

Junior Joy Brandenstein and sophomore Elise Hahn added 12 points apiece to Wilkerson's season-high point total. Brandenstein hit a pair of three-pointers in her eighth double-figure game of the season, while Hahn hit all six of her free throws in a 12-point, seven-rebound return to the lineup. First year Erin Schauer scored nine points, as Wilkerson, Brandenstein, Hahn, and Schauer accounted for 48 of the Oles' 50 points.

Kloey Lind led all scorers with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting while adding four rebounds, four assists, three steals, and three blocked shots for St. Scholastica. Evie Schmitz finished with 16 points for the visitors, while Ava Haus neared a double-double wit 11 points and eight rebounds.

Hahn scored six of St. Olaf's 10 first-quarter points, including a layup that gave the Oles an 8-6 lead midway through the quarter. After the Hahn layup, St. Scholastica held St. Olaf scoreless for nearly five minutes as part of a 7-0 run to take a 13-10 lead into the second.

Wilkerson hit all three of her shots in a seven-point second quarter that resulted in the Saints taking a 30-27 lead into the halftime break. Back-to-back layups by Wilkerson in the first three minutes put the Oles up by one at 22-21, but St. Scholastica used another 7-0 run over a three-point stretch late in the quarter to go back on top.

Schmitz and Lind combined for 17 of the Saints' 20 third-quarter points as the visitors extended their lead to 12 heading to the fourth. After a jumper by Brandenstein 1:17 into the third cut St. Scholastica's lead to 32-29, the Saints went on an extended 13-4 run to build a double-digit lead with 3:19 left in the third.

St. Olaf started the fourth quarter with a layup by Wilkerson and a three-pointer by Schauer to trim its deficit to seven but was unable to get any closer down the stretch.

The Oles will be back at home on Wednesday, Jan. 14 for a 7 p.m. meeting with Bethel University.