Box Score
The Augustana women's basketball team sailed past Minnesota, Crookston Sunday afternoon at the Elmen Center. 11 of 12 Vikings scored in the 90-62 victory.
The win improves the Vikings to 11-3 on the season and 5-2 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Golden Eagles drop to 6-8 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
The Eagles struck first with a basket by freshman guard Brittani Wiese, but the Vikings would outscore them 17-6 in the first 4:45 of the game. Augie was 5 of 6 from 3-point range during that period, and forced UMC to call a timeout. Three of those five 3-pointers came from sophomore forward
Faith Tinklenberg.
Augie was in foul trouble early, but UMC could only convert on the first half of their 1-and-1's, giving the Vikings the opportunity to build their lead. Back-to-back buckets from junior forward
Kristi Board plus a layup by freshman forward
Alex Feeney gave the Vikings a 29-12 lead with 7:06 remaining in the half.
The Golden Eagles wouldn't go away, and went on an 11-5 run to cut Augie's lead to 34-23 with 1:35 to play.
A basket by Board increased the deficit, but UMC outscored the Vikings 5-2 in the final 1:10 to cut the margin to 10, 38-28, at the half.
Augie was 43.2 percent (16 of 37) from the field in the first half while UMC was just 30 percent (9 of 30). After their first five threes, Augie was unable to sink another and ended the half shooting 38.5 percent (5 of 13) from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles were just 1 of 5 (20 percent) from 3-point range.
The Vikings also had 11 assists in the first half, compared to UMC's four. Augie also out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 28-18.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half, but the Vikings seemed to find their deep ball again, going on a 16-3 run which included three tres. This put Augie up 58-34 at the 13:55 mark.
Augie continued to increase its lead, and a three by sophomore guard
Molly Hayes put the Vikings up 74-42 with 8:19 to play.
In the last six minutes of play, the Vikings emptied their bench, and freshman forward
Lydia Nelson scored 11 points in just 10 minutes on the floor.
Augie scored six unanswered points in the final two minutes of the game to seal the win.
The Vikings shot 54.1 percent (37 of 72) from the field and 40 percent (10 of 25) from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles were a dismal 28.6 percent (18 of 63) shooting and 36.8 percent from behind the arc.
Augie also collected 28 assists, eight blocks, and 10 steals.
Tinklenberg led the Vikings in scoring, tying a career-high of 15 points. She was 6 of 9 (66.6 percent) from the field and 3 of 4 (75 percent) from 3-point range. She also had eight rebounds and two assists.
Junior guard
Megan Doyle contributed 14 points while dishing out six assists, and Feeney added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Nelson ended the game with 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting while junior guard
Tessa Wilka poured in 10 points.
Board led the rebounding effort with 10 rebounds and sophomore forward
Liz Helsper tied a career-high with four assists.
Wiese led the Golden Eagles with 14 points while junior guard Jamie Zelinsky contributed 13 and junior guard Diana Taddy added 10.
The Vikings will be back on the road next weekend as they travel to Fayetteville, Iowa to battle Upper Iowa for a 6 p.m. game on Friday. On Saturday, Augie takes on Winona State in Winona, MInn. at 5 p.m.
