ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The Augustana women's basketball team earned its first conference win of the season, winning 72-68 at St. Cloud State on Thursday night inside Halenbeck Hall.
The Vikings (4-5, 1-3 NSIC) shot 50.8 percent from the field while keeping the Huskies (3-6, 0-4) to 43.9 percent. AU dominated in the paint, outscoring SCSU 48-34 inside while holding a 64-40 advantage in points from their starters.
Isabella Sanneh recorded another double-double, scoring 18 points on 9 of 13 shooting while grabbing 14 rebounds in 36 minutes of action.
Kristin Edmonds scored 17 points while knocking down five 3-pointers.
Clarissa Sauer added 12 points, including seven in the final 4:17 of play, and
Maliyah Elliott had 11 points and eight assists.
Edmonds scored the first five points for the Vikings, sandwiching an SCSU 3-pointer with a jumper and 3-pointer to give AU a 5-2 lead.
Addie Hanna added a layup before an 11-2 SCSU run put them in front 14-9 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. Edmonds brought the offense back to life with a 3-pointer while Sanneh and Elliott added layups to give the Vikings a 16-14 lead into the second quarter.
Sauer opened the second frame with a 3-pointer to close a 10-0 AU run and give them a 19-14 advantage. After a Husky layup, Sanneh got a layup to go and Edmonds added another 3-pointer to give AU a lead at 24-16 with 6:16 to go in the first half. After back and forth offense took the game into the final minute of the half, Sauer got a layup and Elliott added a 3-pointer for the largest Viking lead of the game at 35-25 with 21 seconds to go, but the Huskies got a layup to close the half and pull within eight points.
The first 24 points of the second half would be split in half as the Vikings continued to hold an eight point lead with 5:23 to go in the third quarter. The Huskies sprung the first second half run from there, outscoring AU 10-2 over the next two minutes to even the score at 49-49. AU was outscored 8-5 in the closing minutes, capped by a SCSU 3-pointer to give them a 57-54 lead into the fourth quarter.
After each team knocked down a 2-pointer, Edmonds evened the score with a 3-pointer with 7:31 to go at 59-59. The Vikings took a temporary lead two minutes later when Sanneh scored off a feed from Sauer but SCSU tied it up with a jumper on the next possession.
In the next two minutes of action, Sauer took over. It started with a layup that ignited an 8-0 run, with her scoring six points and grabbing a rebound to put the Vikings in front 69-61 with 2:12 to play. SCSU went on a 7-2 run in the next two minutes to cut their deficit to one possession but a Sauer free throw with seven seconds left brought the game to its final score.
The Vikings return to the court Saturday night, taking on Minnesota State in Mankato, Minnesota at 7:30 p.m.
