MARSHALL, Minn. - The Augustana women's basketball team saw its season come to a close on Wednesday night, falling 93-85 to Southwest Minnesota State on Wednesday night in the first round of the NSIC Tournament inside the R/A Facility. 
 
Michaela Jewett scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the way for the Vikings. Aby Phipps, Lauren Sees, and Johanna Miller each scored 17 points to pump the offense. Miller's 17 was a career high and added five rebounds. 

Phipps scored the first four points of the game to get the Vikings going early. Miller broke a 4-4 tie with her own 4-0 run on back-to-back possessions, and added another bucket after SMSU took their first lead of the game to take it right back at 10-9 with 5:12 left in the first quarter. 

After a pair of SMSU free throws, Kelsey Willems knocked down a 3-pointer on the fast break off a dish from Jewett to go ahead by two. AU and SMSU alternated baskets on the next four possessions, capped by a Jewett jumper to take a 17-16 lead with 2:44 left.

In the final 2:09, the teams traded blows, capped by a Sees 3-pointer to beat the clock and give the Vikings a 26-25 lead into the second quarter. 

A 7-0 Mustang run opened the second quarter to put them back in front 32-26. Miller and Jewett each scored two points to sandwich an SMSU jumper and bring them within four with 5:36 to go in the first half. 

SMSU crept back in front, taking a seven point lead with 3:10 to go, but Phipps and Jewett mounted a 6-2 run to close the half and get within 43-40 at the half. Jewett tallied 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the first half while Phipps added 10 of her own. 

The Vikings kept hanging around in the third, starting with a Sees layup less than two minutes into the quarter to get within 46-45. From there, AU floated between deficits of 1-5, finally breaking the barrier and tying the score on a pair of Jewett free throws with 4:49 to play. 

The next five points went to the Mustangs before the Vikings chipped back within 60-58 with 2 minutes left in the third. SMSU got back up five late in the quarter, but Katie Leisen scored a layup to close the scoring and bring AU within 63-60 into the fourth. 

In the first 1:56 in the fourth, the Mustangs began to pull away, scoring 10 of 12 points to lead by 11. Sees scored six of the next 10 points to get the deficit within single digits. The final 5:09 was back-and-forth between the teams, with the Vikings outscoring the Mustangs 17-16 to bring the game to its final score. 

The game was the final one in the Viking career of Sees, Jewett, and Kenzie Rensch.