Box Score
The Augustana Vikings were able to hold off a late surge by St. Cloud State to beat the Huskies 74-66 in front of 1,628 fans Saturday in the Elmen Center.
Augie improves to 16-4 overall and 10-3 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and is now sitting in a tie with St. Cloud (17-3, 10-3 NSIC) for second place in the conference. Augie is now 10-0 at home this season and has won 7 straight games.
The Vikings came out firing all cylinders to start the second half, goin on an 11-1 run in the first 3 minutes and did not give up a field goal to the second highest scoring team in the NSIC until the 16:01 mark to take an early 44-33 lead.
After making just 2 out of their last 24 3-pointers, the Vikings went 6 for 6 from beyond the arc to start the half and after a
Whitney Hofer 3-pointer the Vikings had their biggest lead of the game at 60-41 with 9:18 to go, but the Huskies continued to hang around.
St. Cloud outscored Augie 23-14 to finish the game, but the Vikings made 21-29 free throws to finish off the Huskies as Hofer finished the night a perfect 9 of 9 from the line.
Hofer finished the night with a season high 22 points while grabbing 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
In the first half in which both teams exchanged the lead 6 times, the Augie bench stepped up early combining for 12 points and 11 rebounds to help Augie take their first lead of the game at 12-11 at the 12:36 mark.
After
Dani Arens was called for her second foul of the game at the 14:35 mark, Augie trailed St. Cloud 11-6.
Redshirt freshman
Kathryn Van Duynhoven and the Augie bench stepped up to the challenge, as Van Duynhoven scored 8 points in a 14-5 run over the next 5 minutes to take an 18-14 lead. The bench accounted for 12 points and 11 rebounds in the first half.
The Vikings held on the lead for the final 12:36 as Hofer finished the half with 13 points, including the Vikings final 7 points to go into halftime with a 35-32 lead.
The Vikings did not give up the lead the rest of the game as VanDuynhoven added 5 rebounds to go with her 8 points in just 9 minutes off work off the bench.
Megan Doyle finished the night with 15 points, 5 assists and 3 steals before fouling out of her first game this season with 4:08 remaining in the game.
Amy Puthoff scored 13 points and grabbed 4 rebounds, while
Tessa Wilka had a solid night off the bench with 7 points, 2 rebounds and an assist.
As a team, the Vikings shot 40 percent from the field on 23 of 58 shooting, while shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc on 7 of 19 shooting.
Augie held the Huskies to their third lowest scoring game of the season, as St. Cloud shot 36 percent from the field.
St. Cloud State's leading scorer Katie Tacheny scored a team high 17 points and dished out 6 assists in a losing effort.
The Vikings will remain at home next weekend for a NSIC matchup with Wayne State at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Elmen Center.
