BOX SCORE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - No. 22 Augustana got double-figure scoring efforts from five players en route to picking up a 96-62 victory over Dakota State Monday night in Sioux Falls.
The Vikings stay perfect at 7-0, while DSU counted the game as an exhibition and stays at 3-4.
Lydia Nelson anchored the balanced Augustana offensive effort, scoring 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor.
Tessa Wilka added 15 points,
Megan Doyle had 13,
Molly Hayes scored a dozen and
Emily Schulte netted 10.
Eleven different players were in the scoring column for Augustana.
Wilka was two rebounds away from a double-double and finished with a game-high eight boards.
Hayes handed out six assists in the win.
Julie Munson's 18 points led the Trojans.
The Vikings never trailed in the contest, opening the game on an 18-4 run that was sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Wilka.
Augustana's lead only grew, getting to as large as 25 points with 3:20 left in the first half after Doyle sank a pair of free throws to give the Vikings a 53-28 advantage.
Augustana connected on nine 3-pointers in the first half, getting three from Wilka and two each from Hayes and Schulte. The Vikings also shot 52.4 percent from the field before intermission.
A 12-2 run by Augustana to break in the second half quickly took the rest of the air out of the Trojans and earned the Vikings a 31-point lead at 70-39 less than three minutes into the half.
The Vikings took their largest lead of the game--43 points--at the 10:46 mark after
Liz Helsper drilled an easy bucket to make it a 87-44 contest.
Augustana was relentless on the offensive boards, snagging 17 of its 44 rebounds on their end of the floor and turning those into 23 points.
The Vikings also turned 21 DSU turnovers into 27 points.
Augustana's 7-0 start to the season is its best since the 2004-05 campaign when
Dave Krauth's crew also ushered in the year with seven wins in as many games.
The Viking now look to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, which begins this weekend with trips to Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday.
