BOX SCORE
CROOKSTON, Minn. - No. 25 Augustana put the finishing touches on its regular season by topping Minnesota, Crookston 86-81 Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball.
Augustana moves to 21-5 (18-4 NSIC), while UMC finishes its season 9-17 (6-16 NSIC).
Alex Feeney registered her ninth double-double of the season and 13th of her career in the win, scoring 19 points and hauling in 10 rebounds.
Molly Hayes also had 19 points,
Lydia Nelson netted 18 and
Shaunteva Ashley scored 12 off the bench.
UMC got a game-high 23 points from Megan Eul.
Augustana led the entire game, though the Golden Eagles did have the deficit down to two points with a little more than a minute to play.
The Vikings made 11 steals, outrebounded UMC 40-32 and recorded 42 points in the paint.
Augustana opened on a 6-0 run and extended its lead to 12 points at 16-4 seven minutes in.
A resurgent Golden Eagle squad went to work with precise shooting, trimming the deficit to three points when Eul hit a free throw with 8:21 remaining before the break to make it a 24-21 contest.
Six minutes later, UMC, which shot 46.4 (13 of 28) percent in the opening 20 minutes, was within two points after another Eul bucket.
The Vikings scored five of the final seven points of the half and led 44-39 at intermission.
Feeney scored 12 first-half points.
Augustana worked its lead to 14 points twice in the second half, the first at 15:40 when
Emily Schulte connected on a pair of free throws and at 14:11 when Hayes converted a layup.
A 12-2 UMC run ensued, putting the Golden Eagles within striking distance. And they did strike, getting within two points with 1:04 left after Eul nailed two free throws to make it a 79-77 contest.
Ashley delivered a 3-pointer 20 seconds later for the Vikings, putting her team up five points and taking the air out of UMC.
Hayes and Schulte combined for four three throws in the final 25 seconds to secure the win.
Augustana finished the contest 42.2 percent (27 of 64) from the field.
The Vikings are guaranteed the No. 2 seed for the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament set to begin on Wednesday. MSU Moorhead, which Augustana beat last night, has secured the No. 7 seed and will visit Sioux Falls Wednesday at 7 p.m. for the opening round of the tournament. The semifinals and finals are on March 3 and 4 in Rochester, Minn.
The official bracket will be released later this evening by the conference office.
