NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team battled to the end but came up on the short end of a 64-45 defeat to St. Olaf College on Wednesday evening. The Oles enjoyed a 55-34 rebounding advantage, including 23 on the offensive end that led to 21 second-chance points.

Minnesota Morris fell behind twice in the opening minutes, but scored to tie the game up at 2-2 on a Jadyn Sondrol layup and 4-4 on a Malory Anderson backdoor cut. However, St. Olaf controlled the rest of the first quarter and had a pull-up jumper at the buzzer to take an 18-7 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The Cougars regrouped in the second quarter and cut into the deficit by halftime. Reece Wassink started the scoring in the quarter and then assisted a Jay Kwateh basket on the next trip down the floor before banking in a jumper to make it 20-13 in favor of the Oles. In the final seconds of the quarter, Haley Wollschlager canned a triple to make it 28-20 at the break.

Wollschlager began the second half with a layup on the first Cougar possession to pull Minnesota Morris within six, but St. Olaf went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to open up a 40-22 edge before Tariq Brownotter scored halfway through the quarter to stop the drought. Despite a late bucket from Wassink toward the end of the third quarter, the Oles took a 49-28 lead heading into the fourth. 

With six points off the bench from Maddie Smart, Minnesota Morris outscored St. Olaf in the final quarter, but never got the deficit below 15 points as the Oles closed it out to stay unbeaten on the year.

Wassink finished with a team-high 11 points. Kwateh had eight points and three steals, while Wollschlager added seven points and four steals. 

Minnesota Morris will wrap up a three-game road trip on Nov. 22 with a game at Mayville State University starting at 5:30 p.m.