Box Score
WHEATON, Ill. – Just when it looked like Augustana was going to break through and pick up its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin victory of the season, 14th ranked Wheaton came up with a surge late in the second half to pick up a 66-54 win on Saturday, January 11 at Wheaton's King Arena. The Vikings had battled back from double digit deficit early in the game and a 30-23 margin at halftime to grab a three point advantage (39-36) when senior
Molly Etheridge (Normal Community HS, Bloomington, Ill.) drained a pair of free throws with 12:27 left in the game.
Augustana was down 22-12 with 8:36 left in the first half before trimming the deficit to just seven at intermission. In the first seven and a half minutes of the second half, the Vikings used 16-6 run to grab the lead after Etheridge's two charity tosses. A three point field goal by sophomore
Maddie Kerr (Elgin St. Edward's HS, Streamwood, Ill.) off an assist from junior
Valerie VanRoeyen (Libertyville HS, Grayslake, Ill.) upped the Augustana advantage to five points (42-37) with 11:50 left in the game. That made it a 19-7 run in favor of the visitors.
Wheaton answered the challenge, however, scoring the game's next 18 points to take a 55-42 lead with 5:58 left to effectively put the game out of reach. The Vikings missed 12 straight shots and turned the ball over three times during the Thunder's decisive run.
Eventually the Wheaton lead reached 18 points (64-46 with 2:37 left) before Augustana closed the game on an 8-2 run to make the final margin 66-54.
Senior
Chaney Tambling (Dwight HS, Dwight, Ill.) led the Vikings in scoring with 12 points and she also tied for the team lead in rebounding with five. Etheridge dropped in 11 points and also grabbed five rebounds. Sophomore
Marissa Pezzopane (Addison Trail HS, Wood Dale, Ill.) also had five rebounds – with nine points – and VanRoeyen also pulled down five rebounds.
The Thunder, which is 12-1 and 3-0 in the CCIW, got 17 points from Ellie Zeller with Laurie Graham scoring 13 and Katie McDaniels adding 11. In the decisive second half Wheaton shot .500 (12-24) from the field and made 12 of 15 free throws.
Augustana, now 4-10 overall and 0-3 in the league, will host North Central on Wednesday, January 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the Carver Center.
