Box Score
The Augustana women's basketball team lost its final home game of the regular season, falling to No. 1 Minnesota State University, Mankato, 82-50 Wednesday night at the Elmen Center.
Augustana slipped to 19-7 on the season and 13-6 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Minnesota State improved to 25-1 overall and 18-1 in the NSIC as the Mavericks avenged their only loss of the season, a 95-89 overtime setback in Mankato on January 24.
The Mavericks started out hot, outscoring Augie 15-2 in the first 3 minutes of the game, including the first 12 points of the contest. MSU took advantage of its outside shooting in gaining the early momentum as the Mavericks made 4 of 5 3-point attempts.
Augustana didn't help itself either as the Vikngs turned the ball over 14 times in the first half alone, and were just 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) shooting from the field before the break. Conversely, The Mavericks made nine 3-pointers and shot 43.9 percent from the field.
The Vikings started the second half in the same fashion, turning the ball over in each of their first two possessions. Augie then committed another 11 turnovers in the second half, many of which were unforced.
Augie shot 25.9 percent (14 of 54) for the game from the field, marking the third straight game in which the Vikings shot under 40 percent. In contrast, the MSU shot 48.6 percent (17 of 35) from the field and 38.9 percent (7 of 18) from 3-point range.
MSU's Heather Johnson led all scorers with 21 points while Joanne Noreen added 17 points and Felcia Foster netted 14 points.
Amy Puthoff scored 10 points in her final regular season home game. Whitney Hofer, Tessa Wilka, Brooke Olsen and Faith Tinklenberg all added 8 points.
The Vikings will try to recover when they travel to Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday to take on the Bulldogs in their final conference match of the season. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. Augustana is tied for third place in the NSIC standings and need a win to guarantee a home game in the first round of the NSIC / Sanford Health Basketball Tournament.
