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This week
Augustana (6-2, 3-1 NSIC) is back at home this weekend, hosting Minnesota, Crookston (5-2, 2-1 NSIC) and MSU Moorhead (4-3, 1-2 NSIC) for its last games of 2011. The Vikings welcome UMC to the Elmen Center Saturday and MSUM on Sunday. Tipoff is slated for 4:05 p.m. against UMC and 4 p.m. against MSUM.
Television
Midco Sports Network will carry Saturday's contest live against Minnesota , Crookston. Tom Nieman will handle play-by-play, while Brad Newitt will provide color commentary. MidcoSN can be found on channels 26 or 622 (HD) for Midcontinent Communications subscribers.
The series
Augustana is 10-1 against Minnesota, Crookston. The Vikings' only loss to the Golden Eagles occurred in 2004 and Augustana rebounded with six-straight wins. Last season, the Vikings defeated UMC twice--an 84-58 road victory on Dec. 17 and a 76-63 home win on Feb. 26. Augustana spit with MSU Moorhead in 2010-11 to move the Vikings to 10-4 in their series against the Dragons. MSU Moorhead edged Augustana 63-60 in Moorhead before the Vikings took revenge, beating the Dragons 69-63 in Sioux Falls. All series meetings with UMC and MSU Moorhead have come under head coach
Dave Krauth. Turn to page 9 and 10 for more information on each series.
Last time out
Alex Feeney and
Faith Tinklenberg each reached double-figures in scoring and rebounds to help Augustana to a dominant 93-65 victory over U-Mary last Friday evening. Northern State snapped Augustana's flawless NSIC record, as the Vikings scored a season-low 53 points from 19 of 55 shooting from the floor (34.5 percent) to drop 61-53 to the Wolves Saturday evening.
Keeping Faith
Faith Tinklenberg (Pipestone, Minn.) had a couple of impressive outings for Augustana last weekend, collecting a career- and game-high 12 rebounds with 13 points at U-Mary to notch her first double-double of the season and second of her career. The following evening, Tinklenberg paced the Vikings in scoring with 15 points at Northern State. For the weekend, she shot 70 percent (7 of 10) from 3-point range, and now leads the NSIC in 3-point field goal percentage at 55.6 (10-18) (conference games only).
Sioux Falls' finest
Shaunteva Ashley (Sioux Falls) made 8 of 8 from the free-throw line last weekend to keep her perfect free-throw percent intact. She is 17 of 17 from the charity stripe on the season and is tied to lead the conference at 100 percent (NSIC games only).
Emily Schulte (Sioux Falls) also has a perfect free-throw percent (15-15) this season. Schulte didn't go to the charity stripe last weekend and remains tied for first in the NSIC (12-12) (conference games only). Ashley, Schulte,
Molly Hayes (Harrisburg, S.D.) and
Alex Feeney (Bismarck, N.D.), who are all shooting better than 80 percent from the free-throw line in conference games, are helping the Vikings lead the NSIC (81.8 percent, NSIC games only)?and earn a spot at No. 3 in the nation (81.4 percnet) for free-throw percentage.
Trouble from the field
The 53 points Northern State held Augustana to last Saturday is an uncharacteristically low number for the Vikings this season. Augustana is currently averaging 72.1 points per game in 2011-12, and the Vikings are second in the NSIC, scoring 73.2 points per game (conference games only). On average, the Vikings are outscoring their opponents by a margin of 17.4 points. This was not the case in Augustana's loss to NSU, however, when the Wolves outshot the Vikings from the field 42.9 percent to 34.5 percent. The last time this season Augustana has let an opponent shoot above 40 percent from the field was in a 69-55 season-opening loss to the University of Sioux Falls.
Season-high long shots
Alex Feeney (Bismarck, N.D.) and
Faith Tinklenberg (Pipestone, Minn.) each made 3 of 4 from 3-point range against U-Mary to lead the Vikings to a season-high 14 3-pointers. Augustana scored 62 of its season-high 93 points from behind the arc. Last season, the Vikings scored 90 or more points eight times--most recently at U-Mary in a 99-94 overtime loss to the Marauders on Feb. 12, 2011.
Viking first halves
Augustana has led at the half in all eight games this season, outscoring its opponents by an average of 10 points at the break. In Augustana's two losses this season to the University of Sioux Falls and Northern State, it held just a four- and six point advantage after the opening half.
Steals from Schulte
Opponents better protect the ball around
Emily Schulte (Sioux Falls) as she had one steal against both U-Mary and Northern State last weekend to move her season total to 27. Not only is she pacing the Vikings in steals, but also the NSIC, averaging 3.25 steals per game (NSIC games only).
From the freshman
Sophie Kenney (Fargo, N.D.) assisted Augustana in its blow-out victory over U-Mary, tallying two career-highs in the game. She notched career-highs in rebounds (four) and assists (two). All 11 Vikings who appeared in the game grabbed at least one board?to help Augustana to its season-high 51 rebounds. The Vikings also tied their season-high 19 assists against the Marauders.
Feeeney's at four
Alex Feeney (Bismarck, N.D.) tacked on her fourth double-double of the season last Saturday at U-Mary. She scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Vikings.
Going streaking
Augustana has won seven-straight contests at home, dating back to a 76-63 win over MSU Moorhead on Feb. 26, 2011. The Vikings went 13-1 at home last season, only losing to Wayne State, 75-55, on Feb. 19.
Next assists leader
Now in her fourth season as a starter for Augustana,
Molly Hayes (Harrisburg, S.D.) is on track to become the next career-assists leader. Hayes is 91 assists away from taking over the top spot on the list. Last season, Hayes recorded 147 assists.
1. 569 Sandra Zwach (1993-97)
2. 486
Molly Hayes (2006-08, 09-12)
What the coaches say
Augustana has been selected third in the 2011-12 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll released Oct. 25. The Vikings received four first-place votes and 148 points in the poll voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches.
Rank Team (first-place votes) Points
1 Wayne State (7) 162
2 Winona State (2) 152
3 Augustana (4) 148
4 MSU Moorhead (1) 122
5 Minnesota Duluth 114
6 Northern State 113
7 Concordia-St. Paul 109
8 U-Mary 92
9 Minnesota State 71
10 St. Cloud State 62
11 Minnesota, Crookston 44
12 Southwest Minnesota State 39
13 Bemidji State 31
14 Upper Iowa 15
Coaches' corner
Dave Krauth enters his 23rd season as the Vikings' head coach 2011-12 and has the most wins of any coach in Augustana history with a career record of 447-204. In his 22 years on the bench, Krauth has experienced just one losing season. The veteran head coach has guided his squads to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and tutored 45 all-conference players, including three conference MVPs. The Vikings posted a 20-10 record in 2010-11 and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference at 13-9. Krauth is assisted by
Mark Stavenger, Megan Stadler,
Katie Bourk and Shawn Bergan.
History lesson
Augustana enters its 39th season of women's basketball in 2011-12. The Vikings are 640-390 all-time and have racked
up 30 winning seasons with 21 of them occurring under head coach
Dave Krauth.
On the radio
Veteran radio man Jeff Fylling is back as the “Voice of the Vikings” for 2011-12. Join Fylling for each broadcast on KXRB-AM 1000. You can also stream the broadcast at www.kxrb.com/stream.
Video webcasts
The NSIC and Penn Atlantic have again teamed up to webcast each conference basketball game in 2011-12. A complete broadcast schedule is available at www.northernsun.org.
Augustana Sportscene
Augustana Sportscene is a 30-minute weekly television show highlighting Augustana athletics and is hosted by Director of Athletics Bill Gross. The show includes Viking highlights, interviews with various coaches and student-athletes and promotion of upcoming Augustana athletic events. Augustana Sportscene airs Monday's at 10:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. on Midco Sports Network and at various times on Mediacom's MC22.
Augustana Coaches' Show
Live from Rookies in Sioux Falls, The Augustana Coaches' Show airs On ESPN 99.1 each Monday at 5 p.m. Join
Jeff Fylling and Augustana head coaches as they discuss various topics surrounding Viking athletics. You can also
stream the show live at www.ESPN991.com.
