Macalester vs. St Olaf box score

Macalester led most of the way and held off a second half comeback to beat the St. Olaf Oles 61-51 at the Leonard Center and move to within a game of second place in the conference standings. Trina PaStarr (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn. / Southwest) scored 20 points, going 5-for-9 from the field and 10-for-14 from the foul line, to pace the Scots, who improve to 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the MIAC. The Oles drop to 3-9 on the season, 1-8 in league play.

The Scots out-rebounded their guests 43-31 and held St. Olaf to a 36% shooting figure on the night.

Macalester went up 6-2 and led the entire first half, eventually taking a 27-21 lead into the locker room at halftime. The margin was stretched to 11 points at 35-24 with 17:16 to play. St. Olaf, however, fought back with a 20-8 spurt to take its first and only lead of the game at 44-43 with 4:44 to go.

But the Scots kept their composure and out-scored St. Olaf 18-7 from that point on. Mac's rally started with back-to-back three-pointers by Danielle Johnson (Jr., DeForest, Wis. / Madison Edgewood) and Maggie Wood (Fy., Madison, Wis. / Edgewood) and finished with good free throw shooting.

Eartha Bell (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn. / Breck School) finished with 11 points, four steals and four rebounds for the Scots. Johnson contributed nine points, seven boards and four steals. Wood also had nine points.

All-MIAC forward PaStarr had her 21-game streak of double digit scoring snapped last weekend at Augsburg, but bounces back with her first 20-point performance of the year and ninth of her career.

Elyse Erickson had 15 points and four steals to lead the way for St. Olaf, which drops its fourth in a row. Jamie Erdahl and Kelsey Oja added 10 points each, while Erdahl handed out five assists.

Macalester plays host Saturday (Jan. 17) to Carleton at 1 p.m. and Monday (Jan. 19) to St. Catherine at 7:30 p.m.  The team then begins the second half of the MIAC's 22-game double round-robin schedule next Wednesday (Jan. 21) at St. Mary's.