BOX SCORE

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A dominate start in the opening minutes of the second half powered the Augustana women's basketball team to a 79-70 win over St. Cloud State on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate play. The Vikings' record improved to 11-7 (5-6 NSIC), while the Huskies fell to 10-5 (6-5 NSIC).

The victory helped the Vikings avenge last season's one-point loss to SCSU and give them their 13th win in the last 14 meetings between the two teams.

Nicole Kerkhoff led Augustana with a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds. Kerkhoff, recording her fourth game of at least 20 points in the last seven, has been on a tear since recently, averaging 18.8 points and 8.6 rebounds during the seven-game stretch.

Shaunteva Ashley gave the Vikings a huge lift in the first half with her playmaking abilities, ending the night with 18 points and eight assists. The senior picked up her 400th career assist in the win, becoming just the third in team history with at least 1,500 points, 400 rebounds, and 400 assists in a career.

Sophie Kenney added seven points, six rebounds, and eight assists, with the eight assists setting a new career high in a game for the Fargo, N.D. native.

St. Cloud State, whose great 9-1 start to the season seems like a distant memory, was led by a game-high 27 points from Lexy Petermann, who also pulled down six rebounds in the loss.

Nicole Wittman was the other lone player in double figures for the Huskies, finishing the game with 10 points.

SCSU has now lost four of its last five games.

Augustana jumped out to a quick 11-7 lead early by forcing St. Cloud State into some early turnovers that resulted in easy baskets in transition.

Ashley picked up her 400th career assist just a few minutes later on a pass to Kerkhoff as the Vikings took an 18-13 lead, joining Sandra Zwach and Megan Doyle as the third member of the 1,500-400-400 club.

The Huskies tied the game up at 24-24 with a mini 9-4 run of their own at the 4:52 mark on a 3-pointer by Wittman, her eighth point of the opening half.

Some solid shooting and offensive execution sparked an 11-6 run to close out the half for SCSU as they entered the break with a three-point lead at 35-32.

St. Cloud State's Petermann led all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with 10 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting performance while operating on the low block.

Augustana managed to finish to first half shooting 39.5 percent (15 of 38) despite going just 2 of 16 from beyond the arc.

A nice 12-7 run by the Vikings resulted in a 44-42 lead going into the under-15 media timeout. Ashley had four quick points, upping her total to 11 on the evening.

Some great defense by Augustana helped extend its lead to five at 48-43, forcing the Huskies to take a timeout to try and come up with a solution with 11:05 to go in the second half.

A layup by Kenney with 10:22 left gave the Vikings their first double-digit lead of the contest at 53-43, part of a 24-8 run to start the second half.

Kenney, showing off her passing abilities all night, picked up her eighth assist of the game after a made 3 by Allie Koehn gave Augustana its biggest lead of 14 at 72-58. For Kenney, the assist set a new career high.

The Vikings' defense stood their ground the rest of the way, not allowing SCSU to get any closer than seven points in the final 4:38 of the game, giving them the 79-70 victory.

Down, but not really
Augustana went into the break trailing 35-32, a misleading score as it was in control of the lead for most of the first half as well as the entire game. The Vikings are now 2-3 this year when trailing going into halftime.

Making things easy
The backcourt combination of Ashley and Kenney did a terrific job of finding their fellow teammates for good, open looks that resulted in some easy baskets. The two combined for 16 assists in the game.

Up next
Augustana heads to Duluth, Minn. for a meeting against the physical Bulldogs on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.