Box Score
Behind a career-high 27 points from
Whitney Hofer, the Augustana women's basketball team earned its ninth victory in a row with an 82-75 win over the Upper Iowa Peacocks Friday night.
With the win, the Vikings move to 18-4 overall and 12-3 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while the Peacocks drop to 5-18 overall and 1-15 in the NSIC.
In an up and down fast-paced game, the Vikings found themselves in the middle of a NSIC dogfight right from the start.
After both teams fought back and forth through the first six minutes of play, the Peacocks put together an early 7-0 run to earn their first lead of the half at 17-15 with 13:24 to play in the first half.
Less than a minute later, Augie started a 15-0 run over the next 3:37 to take a 27-17 lead. But just when things seemed to be going the Vikings way, Upper Iowa fought back with a 12-0 tilt of their own to put the score at 30-29 in favor of Augustana with 6:08 to play.
After 20 minutes of battling the Peacocks, Augie went into halftime with a 46-44 lead, as Hofer got off to a solid start with 16 points. The Vikings' bench stepped up to combine for another 19 points.
Hofer also reached a milestone in the first half, becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points in her career. She ended the night with 1,021 points in her career.
Both teams came out slow to start the second half, but as the Vikings gained a 59-50 lead with 12:28 left in the second half, the Peacocks continued to pester Augie and gained the lead back with 8: 01 to play.
Down 65-63 with 6:34 to go, Hofer hit a crucial 3-pointer to tie her season high with 22 points and put the Vikings on top for the remainder of the game.
Augie stepped up its defense in the second half, allowing the Peacocks just seven field goals and finished the night at 39 percent from the field on 25 of 64 shooting.
Augustana finished the night shooting 41 percent, making 28 of 69 shots from the field and outrebounded the Peacocks 44 to 40.
Hofer recorded her sixth double-double of the season, grabbing 11 rebounds to go with her 27 points, while
Megan Doyle scored 22 points and snagged 5 rebounds.
The Vikings' bench kicked in 29 points, with
Faith Tinklenberg scoring 8 points and grabbing 5 rebounds, while
Kristi Board score 7 points to go with 3 rebounds.
The Peacocks had four players finish in double figures, as Lana Otting scored a team-high 20 points. Britney Iredale score 17 points and added 13 rebounds in a losing effort.
Augustana will travel to Winona State Saturday at to take on the Warriors at 6 p.m. in Winona, Minn.
