SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A high shooting percentage in the third quarter proved to be too much for the Dragons in an Augustana women's basketball victory inside the Elmen Center on Saturday night. The Vikings carried a 66 percent shooting percentage from the third quarter to an 83-65 victory over MSU Moorhead.
It was a group effort from the Vikings as ten players saw action on the floor, nine of which found their name in the scoring column. All five starters scored at least ten points with sophomore Aislinn Duffy leading the way with 20 points.
Duffy scored a 3-point basket just 12 seconds into the game and scored five of the Vikings' first seven points with a basket from sophomore Lauren Sees in-between.
The Vikings were sharing the wealth in the first, having five different scorers in the mix. At the 5:30 mark, senior Hannah Mitby was able to convert an and-one to make the score 10-7. With over two minutes without either team scoring sophomore Kenzie Rensch was able to get open and knock down a 3-pointer with redshirt freshman Jennifer Aadland getting the assist. Aadland came up with a 3-pointer of her own, with under a minute and a half left in the first quarter, to make it 21-15 Augustana.
A dry spell from the Vikings allowed MSU Moorhead to get back into the game. The first Viking points of the quarter came from the charity stripe by Duffy, giving AU the lead for 23-21. Mitby converted an and-1 to close out the half with the Vikings leading 32-31.
The Vikings came out of intermission with a bang, going on an 11-4 run as part of a 30-point quarter. Duffy tallied a pair of 3-point baskets within the quarter while Aadland followed suit making a triple of her own to help give the Vikings a 12-point advantage with just over five minutes left in the quarter.
With under a minute to go, Mitby intercepted a pass that led to a layup on the other end while Aadland closed out the quarter for the Vikings with another 3-pointer to increase Augustana's lead to 14 points at 62-48.
Augustana outscored MSUM 21-17 in the final stanza en route to the 18-point victory. The final basket scored by AU was a layup by Rensch with 15 seconds to go.
It wasn't just the offense and the 47.4 percent shooting from the field as the Vikings held the Dragons to 39 percent shooting on 23-of-59 field goal attempts. Augustana also forced 16 turnovers, tallying 21 points from those turnovers. Mitby led the way with four steals while Van Veldhuizen and Rensch each had two. Augustana also blocked five shots on the evening.
Under the NSIC scheduling format for 2021, the Vikings and Dragons face each other again on Sunday with tip-off slated for 4 p.m. The game can be watched on the NSIC Network for free.
--GoAugie.com--
