SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana women's basketball team fell 69-57 to St. Cloud State in the quarterfinal round of the NSIC Tournament Sunday night. The loss ends the Vikings' season with a 17-11 record.
 
St. Cloud State used an 8-0 run, much from free throws, to conclude the game and push a 61-57 advantage to the final outcome of 69-57. It wasn't without chances for Augustana as the Vikings had the score within a basket on four occasions in the final period.
 
However, each time, the Huskies had an answer and were able to gently put distance between the two schools.
 
The final time the Vikings pulled within a basket was courtesy of freshman Lauren Sees. She drove the lane and flipped a layup that rattled all the way around the rim before dropping. She then hit the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play to pull the Vikings within three points at 56-53 with 4:23 remaining in the game.
 
The Huskies responded with an and-one of their own which put enough distance in the score.
 
The Vikings struggled shooting in the fourth quarter, connecting on just 3-of-16 field goal attempts and shot 31 percent for the game. The strongest quarter was the third, where Augustana forced five turnovers from the Huskies and scored nine points off those turnovers to take a 33-25 deficit at halftime to 45-44 score entering the final quarter.
 
Junior Hannah Mitby tallied a team-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting while senior McKenzee Zilverberg joined her in double digits with 11 points. Freshman Aislinn Duffy totaled eight rebounds to go with her eight points.
 
St. Cloud State was led by Brehna Evans with 23 points with 10 of those coming from the charity stripe.
 
The contest concludes the career of seniors Hana Beyer, Abby Hora, Danni Honner and McKenzee Zilverberg.