BOX SCORE
WINONA, MINN. - Michelle McDonald and Katie Wolff combined for 50 points for No. 4-seeded Winona State to help the Warriors register a 87-79 win over No. 5-seeded Augustana in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Wednesday evening in Winona, Minn.
WSU moves to 19-8. The Vikings drop to 20-10 and are knocked out of the conference tournament.
The Warriors advance to play No. 1-seeded Wayne State on Saturday at noon in St. Paul, Minn.
Megan Doyle scored 20 points to lead the Vikings.
Alex Feeney had 18 points, and
Molly Hayes tallied 10.
Wolff (27), McDonald (23), Natalie Gigler (17) and Afton Glander (16) were each in double-figure scoring for the Warriors.
The score was closely knit during most of the first half as the lead changed multiple times and the fourth tie was reached at 5:03 after Doyle made a layup to knot the score at 24-24.
WSU used the closing stretch of the first half to put together a 9-0 run to lead 41-29 at the break.
McDonald, Wolff and Glander were all in double-figure scoring at the break and accounted for all of WSU's points.
Helsper led the Vikings with nine points.
The Warriors shot 50 percent both from the field and from behind the arc in the half.
WSU held Augustana to a 32.1 shooting percentage from the field.
Hayes buried a 3-pointer at 17:46 to bring Augustana's deficit back down to single digits, but McDonald followed the Vikings' effort with a bucket to put WSU back up 47-37.
The Warriors never lost their lead despite the Vikings shooting 57.7 percent from the field in the second half.
WSU outrebounded the Vikings 35-29 and finished 49.2 percent from the field.
The Vikings shot 44.4 percent from the floor.
The top eight teams from each region advance to the NCAA Tournament. Augustana is ranked No. 8. The final Central Region rankings--which will determine NCAA Tournament teams--will be announced on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. via a video broadcast at
www.NCAA.com.
