Box Score
The Augustana women's basketball team fell to No. 23 Concordia-St. Paul 84-71 Friday night in St. Paul, Minn. Prior to the game, the two teams were tied for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings.
The loss drops Augie to 15-4 on the season, and 9-3 in the NSIC. The win improves the Golden Bears to 16-3 and a conference-leading 10-2 in the NSIC. Freshman center
Alex Feeney got things going early for the Vikings, scoring Augie's first seven points and giving them a 7-3 lead in the fist two minutes of the game.
The Vikings continued to hold a narrow lead, despite the Golden Bears making six 3-pointers in the next 12 minutes. Feeney scored six more points in that stretch and junior guard
Kristi Board sank two from behind the arc.
Concordia-St. Paul's Zoraa Quoie locked the score at 31-31 by draining a 3-pointer with 6:42 left in the half, and three consecutive free throws shortly after gave the Golden Bears their first lead of the game at 34-31 with just under six minutes to play.
A trey by sophomore center
Teri VerSteeg tied the teams again at 34-34 with 5:47 remaining in the half. Concordia-St. Paul then outscored the Vikings 15-1 in the next four minutes to build a 49-35 lead with less than two minutes on the clock.
A layup by VerSteeg was answered by a layup from Concordia-St. Paul's Gillian Bjerke before junior guard
Tessa Wilka hit a jumper with 30 seconds on the clock to make the score 51-39 at the half.
The Golden Bears shot 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the field in the first half, and a blistering 78.6 percent (11 of 14) from 3-point range. The Vikings were 41.2 percent (14 of 34) shooting and were just 28.6 percent (4 of 14) from behind the arc.
Concordia-St. Paul continued to hold on to the lead to start the second half, with the two teams trading baskets for the first eight minutes, making the score 66-53 with 11:52 to play.
The Vikings then scored eight unanswered points, including back-to-back threes by Board and sophomore guard
Liz Helsper, allowing Augie to challenge for the lead at 66-61 with 8:45 remaining.
The Golden Bears answered with a streak of their own, outscoring Augie 13-4 in the next six minutes. That run included three 3-pointers by Concordia-St. Paul, and gave them the largest lead of the night, 82-65, with 2:51 on the clock.
Augie tried to rally, scoring five points in the last 2:36 to Concordia-St. Paul's two, but the nationally-ranked Golden Bears proved to be too much for the Vikings.
Augustana shot 42.1 percent (24 of 57) from the field and were just 30 percent (6 of 20) from 3-point range. The Golden Bears were 50.9 percent (29 of 57) from the floor and 51 percent (14 of 27) from downtown. The Golden Bears collected 26 assists on the night, with Augie recording 16.
The Vikings won the turnover battle, committing 16 turnovers to the Golden Bears' 19.
A bright spot for the Vikings was Board, who scored a career-high 21 points and nearly collected the double-double with nine rebounds. Feeney added 18 points.
Quoie led the Golden Bear offense with 19 points while Bjerke added 17 points and nine rebounds. The
Vikings will be back in action tomorrow as they play St. Cloud State in a 4 p.m. matchup.
