Box Score
The Augustana women's basketball team denied a second-half charge by Minnesota State to earn a 65-54 win Wednesday night at Bresnan Arena in Mankato, Minn. Freshman center Alex Feeney recorded her second career double-double in the victory.
The win improves the Vikings to 21-5 this season, and 15-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
The Mavericks fall to 14-12 overall and 9-10 in the league.
The game started slow, with neither team making a field goal until nearly four minutes into the game. Augie then caught fire from long range, with four of their first five field goals coming from behind the arc. This gave them a 17-4 lead with 11:11 to play in the half.
The Mavericks answered by scoring seven straight points, but sophomore center Kathryn VanDuynhoven made back-to-back layups to keep the Augie advantage at 21-11 at the 7:22 mark.
Minnesota State went on another small run, outscoring the Vikings 9-2 in the next three minutes, making the score 23-20, Augie.
The Vikings finished the half by outscoring the Mavericks 10-4, and took a 33-24 lead at the break.
VanDuynhoven scored her season-high eight points in only nine minutes of play in the first half.
The Vikings shot 39.4 percent (13 of 33) for the half, and were 30.8 percent (4 of 13) from behind 3-point range.
The Mavericks were 30 percent (9 of 30) from the field while only connecting on one of 10 3-pointers.
Minnesota State's Tiffany Moe took over in the second, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the half for the Mavericks, and her jumper at the 15:13 mark made the score 39-34 in favor of the Vikings.
Feeney muscled in a layup and a made layup plus the free throw after for the foul by Faith Tinklenberg with 14:30 left to play put Augie back up by 10, 44-34.
Minnesota State chipped away, and with 4:53 to play had pulled to within four at 53-48 thanks to a couple of missed free throws by the Vikings.
An offensive rebound and layup by Tinklenberg gave the Vikings a bit of breathing room. On the next possession she was fouled and missed both free throws, opening the door for MSU's Jennie Noreen to connect on both free throws on the other side with 3:26 to play.
Feeney hit Augie's first 3-pointer of the second half with just 1:53 on the clock, making the score 59-52, and giving the momentum back to the Vikings. The shot also completed the double-double for Feeney, who finished the night with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Just a minute later, Tinklenberg hit a layup, and MSU's Laura Weber answered with a layup of her own, but junior guard Megan Doyle sank four straight free throws to seal the win for the Vikings.
Augie shot 42.4 percent (25 of 59) for the game, and were 31.3 percent (5 of 16) on 3-pointers.
The Mavericks shot 35.1 percent (20 of 57), and were a dismal 11.1 percent (2 of 18) from downtown.
Feeny's double-double came on 5 of 11 shooting, and she also collected one assist.
High scorer for Augie was Doyle, who poured in 16 points and dished out five assists.
Tinklenberg also recorded double figures with 11 points.
The Vikings will be back at home on Saturday as they take on Minnesota Duluth at 2 p.m.
