Box Score ST. LOUIS, Missouri – Second ranked Washington scored the first seven points of the game and 13 of the first 15 en route to a 77-53 victory over Augustana on Friday, December 6. The game was in the first round of the McWilliams Classic in St. Louis, Missouri. The Vikings will play the University of California-Santa Cruz at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 7 in the consolation game while Washington and Trinity battle at 7:30 p.m. for the championship.
 
Head coach Mark Beinborn's team could not overcome a slow start on Friday, falling behind 13-2 before the game was three minutes old. The Vikings did manage to get to within five points (21-16) at the 10:42 mark thanks to a 14-8 run that was capped by a Valerie VanRoeyen (Libertyville HS, Grayslake, Ill.) basket.
 
The Bears promptly answered that with an 11-3 spurt to push the advantage to 32-19 with 6:34 left before halftime. Washington led 40-29 at intermission and Augustana was never able to get the margin into single digits in the second half.
 
The Vikings defense limited the Bears to .308 (12-39) from the floor in the first half before the hosts warmed up in the second half and shot .484 (15-31) to finish the game at .386 (27-70). Augustana was never able to gain its shooting touch, hitting just .339 (19-56) from the floor, including just .176 (3-17) from three point range.
 
Another factor in the game was rebounding as Washington pounded the boards to the tune of a 52-37 advantage with Melissa Gilkey grabbing 12 and Jordan Rettig hauling in 11. Senior Chaney Tambling (Dwight HS, Dwight, Ill.) led Augustana in rebounding with eight. Tambling also scored six points and had an assist in 25 minutes of play.
 
The Vikings had just one player in double figures in scoring and that was senior Molly Etheridge (Normal Community HS, Bloomington, Ill.) with 10. She also had four assists with three steals and a blocked shot. Junior Meagan Murphy (Marian Central Catholic HS, Johnsburg, Ill.) scored eight points with three rebounds, one assist and a steal.
 
Washington moved to 5-1 with the victory while Augustana fell to 2-4.