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This week
No. 25 Augustana (21-5) is the second seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament and will host No. 7-seeded MSU Moorhead (14-12) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Elmen Center.
Series record
Augustana and MSU Moorhead have squared off 16 times since 1990-91, and the Vikings lead the series 12-4. Augustana has won the previous three contests with the Dragons, including two this season. Augustana's most recent victory was last Friday when the Vikings beat the Dragons 67-57 on the road. On Dec. 10, Augustana defeated MSUM 98-66 in Sioux Falls. All meetings with the Dragons have come under head coach
Dave Krauth. For more on the series, turn to page 9.
Last time out
Augustana finished regular-season play with a weekend sweep to end conference play 18-4.
Molly Hayes scored a game-high 22 points and became Augustana's all-time assist leader in a 67-57 victory over MSU Moorhead last Friday night. Hayes handed out four assists and passed Sandra Zwach (569) as the all-time leader at Augustana. Her 22 points came off 7 of 14 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Lydia Nelson also reached double figures for the Vikings, netting 12 points. Augustana received double-figure rebounding performances from
Faith Tinklenberg and
Alex Feeney, who grabbed 11 and 10 boards, respectively. Tinklenberg added 10 points for her third career double-double. Megan Strese scored 16 points off the bench to pace the Dragons. Augustana put the finishing touches on its regular season by topping Minnesota, Crookston 86-81 Saturday afternoon. Feeney registered her eighth double-double of the season and 12th of her career in the win, scoring 19 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. Hayes also had 19 points, Nelson netted 18 and
Shaunteva Ashley scored 12 off the bench.
There's a new leader in town
Now in her fourth season as a starter for Augustana,
Molly Hayes (Harrisburg, S.D.) has become the career-assists leader for the Vikings. She dished out four assists against MSU Moorhead, passing Sandra Zwach's career-assists record of 569 set between 1993 and 1997. Hayes passed out another four assists against Minnesota, Crookston last Saturday and now has 575 career assists.
Faith in February
Some of
Faith Tinklenberg's (Pipestone, Minn.) best rebounding performances this season have come in February. Although she began the month against Minnesota State with a mere three rebounds, Tinklenberg picked up the pace and began to grab more boards off the glass each game, peaking with 11 last Friday against MSU Moorhead. She has set a career-high 12 rebounds twice, most recently against U-Mary on Dec. 9.
Delivering from the floor
Lydia Nelson (Lake Preston, S.D.) is averaging double figures for the season, but prior to this weekend's contests, it had been five games since Nelson dropped more than nine points on an opponent. During that time stretch, she recorded only two points in games three times. This all changed last Friday when Nelson was one of three Vikings to reach double digits. She improved upon that outing the following afternoon, connecting on 7 of 10 from the floor and draining all four free throws to put up 18 points in the Vikings' game against Minnesota, Crookston. It's the most points scored by Nelson since Jan. 27 against Concordia University, St. Paul when she notched 21.
Home record
The Vikings own a 13-1 record in the Elmen Center this season. On Dec., 17, Minnesota, Crookston snapped Augustana's seven-game home winning streak that dated back to last season. The Vikings rallied back, however, and have won eight-straight games on their home court.
Women of steal
Augustana's defensive pressure is causing trouble for opponents this season. The Vikings have recorded 224 steals this season, an average of 8.6 swipes per game. Sixty-seven of those steals have come from
Emily Schulte (Sioux Falls), who finished first in the NSIC. Opponents of the Vikings average 7.1 steals per game.
Dreaming of doubles
Augustana has had five Vikings record double-doubles 13 times this season and
Alex Feeney leads the pack, having recorded eight of them on her own.
Faith Tinklenberg (Pipestone, Minn.) has reached double-figure points and rebounds twice, while
Shaunteva Ashley (Sioux Falls) and
Andrea Whitney (Sartell, Minn.) have one double-double on the year.
NSIC Champion
Andrea Whitney (Sartell, Minn.) performed double duty again last Friday, competing for Augustana's track and field team at the NSIC Indoor Championships in Mankato, Minn., before appearing off the bench for the Vikings later in the day in their game against MSU Moorhead. She was crowned an NSIC champion in the women's high jump, tying her career-best leap of 5 feet, 7 inches. She recorded one rebound and one block in the Vikings' basketball game.
NSIC finishes
Augustana took a familiar finish in the final 2011-12 NSIC standings. In 2009-10, Augustana also finished No. 2 in the conference--tying with Wayne State in the standings. The runner-up nod is the best finish for Augustana since it joined the NSIC in 2008-09.
2008-09 Fourth (tie)
2009-10 Second (tie)
2010-11 Fifth (tie)
2011-12 Second
Take it to the ship
This is Augustana's fourth-straight year in the NSIC Tournament, and last season was the first time the Vikings didn't make it past the opening round. In 2008-09 and 2009-10, Augustana dropped contests during the semi-finals of the tournament, but the Vikings were defeated 87-79 at Winona State in first-round play in 2010-11.
March 4, 2009 Minnesota Duluth W 82-73
March 7, 2009 vs. Concordia-St. Paul L 67-58
March 3, 2010 Northern State W 67-55
March 6, 2010 vs. Wayne State L 77-60
March 2, 2011 at Winona State L 87-79
In the running
Along with Augustana and MSU Moorhead, six conference teams will be in the running for the NSIC Tournament crown. Winners of the first-round games, which are all hosted by the higher seed, will advance to the final two rounds of the tournament--Saturday and Sunday--at the Taylor Arena in Rochester, Minn. All opening-round games will be played on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and are as follows: No. 8 Northern State at No. 1 Wayne State, No. 7 MSU Moorhead at No. 2 Augustana, No. 6 Winona State at No. 3 U-Mary, No. 5 Minnesota State at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth. Midco Sports Network (channels 26 or 622 for Midcontinent Communications subscribers) will broadcast all semifinal games and the championship tilt. For the complete bracket, turn to page 20.
Regional rankings
Augustana is third in the second Central Region rankings of the season, the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Committee announced last Wednesday. The Vikings are ranked No. 25 in the nation with an in-region record of 17-5. They made no movement from last week in the rankings. The Central Region is comprised of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Wayne State is ranked the top team in the Central Region for the second week with an in-region record of 23-2. Metro State (Colo.) is No. 2 and is 22-2 in the region. Other NSIC teams in the top 10 include No. 6 U-Mary, No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, No. 8 Minnesota State, No. 9 Winona State and No. 10 MSU Moorhead. St. Cloud State dropped out of the rankings. The top-eight teams in the final region rankings advance to the NCAA tournament.
DII In-Region
1 Wayne State 23-2 23-2
2 Metro State 22-2 22-2
3 Augustana 17-5 17-5
4 Fort Lewis 19-4 19-4
5 Colorado State-Pueblo 19-5 18-5
6 Mary 15-8 15-8
7 Minnesota Duluth 15-8 15-8
8 Minnesota State 14-9 12-9
9 Winona State 13-9 13-9
10 MSU Moorhead 13-9 12-9
National news
Augustana fell two spots to No. 25 in the latest USA Today/ESPN Division II Top-25 Coaches' Poll released last Tuesday. The Vikings earned 72 points in the rankings conducted by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Augustana holds a 19-5 record and was ranked No. 23 last week. California-San Diego received all 32 first-place votes and 800 points to retain its top spot with a 26-0 record. Wayne State is the only other ranked conference opponent at No. 3. The Wildcats are 24-2 and received 711 points. Turn to page 8 to view the complete poll.
NSIC honors
Augustana has had one Viking win a weekly conference award twice this season.
Alex Feeney (Bismarck, N.D.) earned the honor on Jan 4 and Jan 16.
What the coaches say
Augustana was selected to finish third in the 2011-12 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll released Oct. 25. The Vikings received four first-place votes and 148 points in the poll voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches.
