BOX SCORE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -
Alex Feeney poured in a career- and game-high 29 points to lift Augustana to a 77-72 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory over U-Mary Saturday night.
Augustana improves to 19-4 (16-3 NSIC) and clenches second in the conference standings. U-Mary drops to 15-8 (12-7 NSIC).
Emily Schulte added 13 points and
Shaunteva Ashley notched 10.
Faith Tinklenberg led the Vikings with nine rebounds and Feeney had eight.
Linda Murray had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Marauders.
U-Mary took a 6-0 lead to begin the game and Augustana continued to trail the Marauders until a bucket by Schulte gave the Vikings their first advantage, 13-12, at 11:35.
At 9:31 Tinklenberg made a layup to move the score to 18-17, erasing U-Mary's lead.
The Marauders came back, however, and knotted the score 26-26 with six minutes left in the half.
Feeney then made two free throws and Nelson hit a bucket to keep the advantage in the Vikings' hands.
Augustana was able to gain a 32-27 lead at 2:43 after a jumper by Feeney, but the advantage was quickly lost as U-Mary scored the next and final eight points in the half to lead 35-32 at the break.
Both teams made just one 3-pointer in the half and U-Mary shot 39.4 percent (13 of 33) from the field, while Augustana shot 37.1 percent (13 of 35).
Feeney went on a scoring streak to open the second half and netted six points to allow the Vikings to knot the score 38-38 at 18:23.
Hayes broke a two minute scoring drought for both teams with a free throw, but U-Mary quickly rebounded with a layup to go ahead 40-39.
Both teams continued to battle and the score knotted four times before Tinklenberg's layup put Augustana ahead 54-52 with just less than 12 minutes remaining.
The Vikings held onto its advantage and Schulte drilled a shot from behind the arc to build a 68-61 lead at the six-minute mark.
Augustana stretched its lead to the largest of the game, 74-66, with 3:20 on the clock, but U-Mary used the remaining minutes to cut their eight-point deficit. With 16 seconds on the clock, the Marauders came within two points of Augustana, but Ashley finished the game making three free throws to help the Vikings to their win.
Augustana outshot U-Mary from the field 36.2 percent (25 of 69) to 35.9 percent (23 of 64).
The Vikings are on the road for their final three regular-season games, beginning with No. 3 Wayne State next Saturday.
