BOX SCORE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Augustana snapped No. 6 Wayne State's six-game winning streak with a 71-52 victory Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball.
The Vikings, who have won six-straight contests, move to 12-3 (9-2 NSIC) and are now in a tie for first in the conference with WSC, who falls to 15-2 (9-2 NSIC).
Alex Feeney dropped a career- and game- high 25 points on the Wildcats and added another game-high 11 rebounds. It's her fifth double-double of the season.
Lydia Nelson was also in double-figure scoring with 17 points.
It's the first time the Vikings have beat WSC since Dec. 12, 2009.
After a 5-2 Wildcat lead at 18:19, Nelson made three consecutive layups to kick off a 10-point Viking run that lasted four minutes, 33 seconds. During that time, Augustana held WSC scoreless to gain a 12-5 advantage.
WSC made an attempt at regaining its lead with a 12-5 run that knotted the score 17-17 at 6:46, but the Wildcats weren't successful at capturing another lead in the opening 20 minutes as Nelson hit a jumper for the Vikings 10 seconds later.
Feeney followed Nelson's basket with Augustana's only 3-pointer of the half and a layup from Hayes allowed the Vikings a 24-17 advantage at 5:18.
Over the next five minutes the Vikings made just 2 of 6 shots to only hold a 28-25 lead at the buzzer.
Augustana shot 37.9 percent (11 of 29) from the floor in the opening half, and allowed WSC to connect on just 8 of 28 (28.6 percent).
The Vikings held onto its lead throughout the second half despite WSC baskets that tied the score 30-30 and again 33-33.
Augustana wasn't discouraged by Wildcats' early action, however, rattling off six-straight points go up 39-33 at 15:04.
A WSC 3-pointer at 13:32 put the Wildcats back within 3-points of the Vikings, but Augustana protected its lead with a 15-0 run to move the score to 55-37 with 6:26 left in the game.
Augustana kept its double-digit advantage and gained its largest lead of the game, 68-48, after a layup from Nelson with just over a minute remaining.
The Vikings shot 63.6 percent from the floor in the final half to finish the game shooting 49.0 (25 of 51) percent. Augustana connected on just 2 of 12 3-pointers.
WSC finished 31.4 percent (16 of 51) from the field.
Three Wildcats were in double-digit scoring. Ellen Hansen led the way with 17 points.
Augustana resumes conference action next weekend at Upper Iowa and Winona State.
