CHICAGO, Ill. – The St. Olaf College women's basketball team started its 2022-23 season with a 69-59 victory over first-time foe Alma College at the North Park Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night at North Park Gymnasium.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, St. Olaf (1-0) got a combined 57 points and 29 rebounds from senior Grace Hegland, senior Rachel Kelly, and sophomore Paige Yagodinski to down Alma (0-2). The Oles shot 48.4 percent (16-for-33) from the field in the second half and limited the Scots to 25.0 percent (8-for-32) shooting over the final two quarters.

Hegland recorded the second double-double of her career with a career-high 20 points – seven more than her previous high – to go with 11 rebounds, four steals, and two assists, while shooting 10-for-14 from the field on the night. Kelly matched Hegland with 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Yagodinski scored 13 of her career-high-tying 17 points in the second half and grabbed a career-high-tying 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double.

Junior Cassie Fix handed out a career-high seven assists to go with five points and six rebounds for St. Olaf, which shot 45.5 percent (30-for-66) from the field and scored 50 of its 69 points in the paint. The Oles also held a 48-39 advantage in rebounding and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points.

In the opening quarter, St. Olaf held Alma scoreless for more than three minutes to build a 10-4 lead following a layup by sophomore Cayden Botten with 4:04 remaining in the quarter. Alma responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to get within one at 12-11, but the Oles got buckets from Kelly and Hegland late on to carry a 16-13 lead into the second.

Layups by Kelly on back-to-back possessions gave St. Olaf its largest lead of the game at the time at 24-17 with 6:46 remaining in the second quarter. Alma whittled its deficit down to one on a three-pointer by Olivia Warren inside the final minute of the half before Hegland scored again inside with nine seconds to go in the half to give the Oles a 32-29 halftime lead. Hegland had 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting over the first 20 minutes.

Kelly had eight of St. Olaf's 16 third-quarter points, as the Oles' defense limited the Scots to four field goals in the quarter to maintain a 48-44 lead after three quarters. Alma cut St. Olaf's lead to one at 38-37 four minutes into the quarter, but the Oles answered by scoring the next seven points to push their lead back to seven. St. Olaf led by as many as nine before seeing its lead trimmed back down to four.

Yagodinski hit three three-pointers and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Oles close out the victory. After Alma again got within one, Yagodinski hit back-to-back three-pointers and scored all eight points in an 8-0 run that gave St. Olaf a 57-48 lead with 6:20 to go. The Scots could not get closer than six points the rest of the way, as the Oles closed out the wire-to-wire win. St. Olaf never trailed in the game and led for all but 1:16 of the 40-minute game.

The Oles finish off their opening weekend in Chicago by taking on host North Park on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. The Vikings downed Beloit College, 91-74, in the first game of the day on Friday.