DULUTH, Minn. - The Augustana women's basketball team competed throughout, but ultimately fell 82-68 to Minnesota Duluth on Sunday afternoon inside the Romano Gymnasium.

The Vikings fall to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in NSIC play, while the Bulldogs are now 6-1, 3-0.

Lauren Sees and Michaela Jewett held the Vikings in the game from the jump. Sees finished with 27 points on 11 of 15 shooting and dished six assists, while Jewett scored 25 points on 5 of 8 shooting from deep while grabbing eight rebounds. Jennifer Aadland scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds, and Aby Phipps grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. 

After UMD opened the scoring, Sees and Phipps each connected on layups to take a 4-2 lead at the 8:08 mark in the first quarter. After The Bulldogs tied it up at 4-4, Jewett started to heat up, knocking down her first of four first half threes at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter. 

Sees connected on a jumper for the next score of the game, and the last 6:14 of first quarter action saw each team score seven points to help the Vikings take a 16-11 lead into the second. 

Sees opened the second quarter scoring with a mid-range jumper to expand the lead to 18-11, but a 7-0 flurry by UMD in less than a minute of play evened the scoring at 18-18. Jewett regained the lead with a layup and then a three pointer after a UMD jumper to go ahead 23-20, but a 5-0 Bulldog run gave them their first lead since their first basket of the game at 25-23.

Jewett wasted no time from there, connecting on another three, and Sees knocked down a pull-up jumper from the elbow to jump ahead 28-25 with 4:08 to go in the half. A pair of threes and a layup by UMD pushed them back in front, but a pair of Sees free throws and a Jewett triple evened the tightly contested half at 33-33 with 1:14 left. In the final minute, the Bulldogs knocked down a pair of free throws to take a 35-33 lead into the break. 

After scoring 14 first half points, Jewett kept it rolling to open the second half. She opened the scoring with a layup before a pair of UMD buckets pushed them ahead 39-35 less than two minutes into the half. Aadland cut into the lead with her first three of the game on the next possession, and Sees delivered with another pull up to go up 40-39. 

After UMD went back in front 43-42, Sees, again, knocked down a mid-range bucket to lead 44-43. That would be the final lead of the night for the Vikings, as the Bulldogs held a 50-48 lead before rattling off a 7-1 run to close the quarter and lead 57-49.

Sees refused to let the game slip away, scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter to trail 57-54. The Bulldogs regrew their lead with a jumper, steal, and layup, and then hit a three on their next possession to jump ahead 64-54 with 7:13 to play. 

The Bulldogs pulled away from there, scoring 18 of the last 32 points to bring the game to its final score. 

The Vikings host Minnesota State on Friday in their 2023-24 debut at the Sanford Pentagon. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.