NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team cut a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to five before falling, 54-46, to St. Catherine University in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.
St. Catherine (9-9, 4-7 MIAC) outscored St. Olaf (5-13, 0-11 MIAC) by a 19-9 margin in the third quarter to break a 20-20 halftime tie before the Oles started the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run. The Wildcats were still up by five midway through the fourth before going on a mini 5-0 run to take a 10-point lead and held on from there.
Junior
Bree Wilkerson led St. Olaf with 13 points and seven rebounds while shooting 4-for-7 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point range, and 3-for-4 at the free-throw line. First year
Erin Schauer hit a couple of late three-pointers to finish with 11 points, while sophomore
Elise Hahn recorded 10 points, eight rebounds, six steals, and three steals.
On a night where she reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career, Hattie Fox scored a game-high 20 points for St. Kate's, which got 14 points and six steals from Jordyn Peed. The Wildcats shot just 30.2 percent (16-for-53) from the field but forced 24 turnovers and turned them into an 18-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
St. Kate's got out to a 6-0 lead over the first 1:43 on its way to a 16-10 lead after the first quarter behind a six-point quarter from Fox. The Wildcats pushed their lead to 20-12 with 6:41 left in the second quarter on a layup by Fox before going scoreless for the rest of the quarter. The Oles scored the final eight points of the half to force a 20-20 tie at the break.
After a layup by sophomore
Grace Gertner gave St. Olaf its only lead of the game with the first points of the second half, St. Kate's went on an 8-0 run to build a 28-22 lead four minutes into the third. A three-point play by Peed in the closing seconds of the third gave the Wildcats a 39-29 lead heading to the fourth.
Wilkerson scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to make it a 39-34 game with 7:46 remaining. St. Kate's built its lead back to 10 with 3:42 to go before a layup by Hahn and a three-pointer by Schauer gave the Oles hope of a comeback in a 46-41 game with 1:32 remaining. The Wildcats knocked down eight consecutive free throws down the stretch, however, to seal the victory.
St. Olaf will visit Macalester College for a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Jan. 31.
