Northfield, Minn. – Hannah Oken-Berg (So./Portland, Ore./Lincoln) sprang for a career-high 30 points on 11-for-14 shooting and added 11 rebounds and Carleton College built a 22-point lead and held off a late College of St. Catherine rally to post a key 75-64 win.
Annie Isler (Jr./Minneapolis/Hopkins) added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Knights (15-5, 12-5 MIAC), who beat the Wildcats for the 14th straight time in Northfield.
Ashley Busch scored 19 points for the Wildcats (12-8, 9-8 MIAC) and Erin Petrich tallied 16 points. Oken-Berg and the Knights held the Wildcats's leading scorer, Sarah Schneider, to six points, three rebounds and five turnovers.
The Knights started quick, building a 30-18 advantage, but the Wildcats responded with a quick 10-0 spurt, but Carleton answered back by scoring the final seven points of the half, including Amber Connor's (Fy./Rosemount, Minn.) lay-up right before halftime, to lead 40-28 at the break.
Carleton started the second half much like it ended the first, outscoring the Wildcats 13-3 to push its lead to 22 points as the Knights run spanning halftime totaled 20-3. The Wildcats, though, whittled the lead to 11 points with six minutes remaining and pulled with six points with 55 seconds left as Carleton missed four free throws, but Oken-Berg drilled four straight free throws in the final 37 seconds to seal the win.
Connor added nine points and eight rebounds and Anna Biewen (So./Edina, Minn.) and Sarah Lincoln (So./Rockford, Minn.) tallied eight points each.
Carleton is back in action on Monday, Feb. 5, hosting Hamline University as part of a men's/women's doubleheader. The women's game tips off at 7:45 p.m. and both games can be heard live on Knights Online.
