Box Score
The Augustana women's basketball team used strong play to start and finish each half as the Vikings defeated Mount Marty 67-57 Tuesday night before 1,557 fans at the Elmen Center.
Augustana improved to 9-1 on the season while Mount Marty, ranked No. 7 in the latest NAIA Division II national poll, remained at 13-2 as the game was an exhibition contest for the Lancers.
Augustana got off to a good start in the first half. The Vikings made 3 of their first 5 shots to race out to a 10-3 lead after 3 minutes of play.
But Mount Marty, who missed 6 of its first 7 shots, settled down and climbed back into the game thanks to its 3-point shooting. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kendra Schomer and Michelle Amundson trimmed the Viking lead to 17-15 with just over 13 minutes to play in the half.
Moments later, Amundson and Alexa Berg knocked down treys to give the Lancers their first lead of the game at 23-21 with 10:45 remaining in the period.
From there, the score went back and forth with 5 lead changes. Augustana regained some momentum with a strong final 4 minutes of play. The Vikings outscored the Lancers 8-0 over the final 4:10.
Teri VerSteeg ignited the late charge with a 3-pointer.
Megan Doyle added a bucket with just under 2 minutes to play and
Kristi Board buried a WNBA-range 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in the half to give the Vikings a 37-35 lead at the break.
Augustana turned up the intensity at the outset of the second half. The Vikings exploded with a 16-4 run, including a stretch of 10 unanswered points to cap the rally to take their largest lead of the game at 53-39 with 12:30 to play in the game. Doyle sparked the rally with 7 points, including a 3-pointer, a 3-point play and a free throw.
But Mount Marty wouldn't go away. The Lancers countered with 8 straight points to make it a 6-point game at 53-47 with 10:27 to play. However, Augustana righted the ship and scored the next 6 points to push the lead back to 12 at 59-47 with 8:23 remaining.
The closest the Lancers would get after that was 8 points, 63-55 with 4:50 to play on a basket by Miller. However, that proved to be the Lancers' last field goal of the game.
Doyle led the Vikings with her first career double-double. She scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds, including 5 offensive boards, to pace the hosts.
Faith Tinklenberg and
Alex Feeney joined Doyle in double figures with 11 points apiece. Board just missed a double-double with 7 points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds.
Miller led all scorers with 19 points, while Amundson added 12. Mount Marty, which made 6 of 8 3-point attempts in the first half, missed all 10 attempts beyond the arc in the second half to finish at 6 of 18 (33.3 percent). Overall, Mounty Marty shot 27.8 percent from the field (20 of 72) for the game.
Augustana, meanwhile, shot 40.3 percent from the field, connecting on 25 of 62 attempts. The Vikings were 7 of 22 (31.8 percent) from 3-point range.
The Vikings return to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this weekend as they go on the road to face Bemidji State Saturday at 4 p.m. and Minnesota Duluth Sunday at 2 p.m.
