BOX SCORE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Minnesota, Crookston erased a four-point deficit with less than one minute remaining to pick up a 73-70 victory over Augustana Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball in Sioux Falls.
The Golden Eagles improve to 6-2 (3-1 NSIC). The Vikings are now 6-3 (3-2 NSIC).
UMC's Brittani Wiese, the NSIC's leading scorer, led all with 24 points.
Alex Feeny's 16 points paced Augustana. She also led the Vikings with nine rebounds.
Augustana committed 17 turnovers in the loss
Two Augustana turnovers gave UMC a 4-0 lead 30 seconds into action, and the Vikings continued to trail until they went on a 5-0 run to steal a 9-6 advantage at 16:33.
With just less than 16 minutes to play until the break, UMC's Wiese made a 3-pointer and knotted the score at 9-9--the first of seven ties in the half.
Leads changed between the Vikings and UMC 11 times in the half, but at 6:23, Feeney tossed in a layup to erase the last of those Golden Eagles' advantages and put Augustana ahead 26-25.
After a bucket by UMC tied the score at 33 with 1:29 remaining, the Vikings went on a 4-point run to lead 37-33 at the break.
Augustana shot 43.8 percent in the first half. The Vikings held the Golden Eagles to 36.4 percent shooting.
The Vikings couldn't continue pulling away from UMC in the second half as the Golden Eagles opened with a 9-5 run to catch up with Augustana, 42-42, at 16:14.
Three more ties ensued before
Cami Koehn drilled a long shot and
Shaunteva Ashley followed it with a breakaway layup to give Augustana a 55-50 lead at 10:23.
The Vikings stretched their lead to 62-55, the largest of the game, after a jumper by Feeney with 7:16 remaining.
Augustana's seven-point advantage wasn't secure, however, as UMC put together a 10-4 run that knotted the score 66-66 for the 12th and final time at 2:49.
The Golden Eagles held the lead throughout the remainder of the game with the Vikings making just one field goal in the final seven minutes.
Augustana held a 9-3 advantage in blocks during the game.
The Vikings host MSU Moorhead tomorrow at 4 p.m. to end its action in 2011.
