Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Junior Marissa Pezzopane (Addison Trail HS, Wood Dale, Ill.) and senior Valerie VanRoeyen (Libertyville HS, Grayslake, Ill.) had career highs of 29 and 17 points, respectively, Saturday to lead Augustana to an 80-51 win over Blackburn at Carver Center. Coach Mark Beinborn's Vikings improve to 1-2 on the season, while the Beavers drop to 0-2.
 
Pezzopane (eight) and VanRoeyen (five) scored all of Augustana's points as the hosts raced to a 13-2 lead at the 15:20 mark of the first half. Pezzopane added another bucket before freshman Victoria Allen (Wildwood HS, Eureka, Mo.) became the third Viking to reach the scoring column with a three-pointer at 11:01.
 
Augustana continued to build on the lead throughout the first stanza. Another basket by Allen with 52 seconds left pushed the margin to 48-15, the biggest of the evening. Blackburn's Casey Fellin followed with a hoop to make the score 48-17 at intermission.
 
Pezzopane finished the half with 18 points and VanRoeyen with 15 as the Vikings shot .588 (20-34) from the field, including three of six from three-point range. The Beavers connected on just six of 31 (.194) field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes and misfired on all six of their attempts from beyond the arc.
 
Although its shooting cooled off considerably in the second half, Augustana maintained a lead of no less than 21 points throughout. A three-pointer by junior Dominique Hartsfield (Plainfield East HS, Romeoville, Ill.) with 1:54 left pushed the advantage back to 30 at 78-48.
 
Pezzopane finished 13 of 23 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds in addition to her 29 points. VanRoeyen scored 17 on six of 11 from the floor, including two of three from long range. Junior Andrea McNally (Hinsdale South HS, Burr Ridge, Ill.) had eight points, a team-high 10 rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Kayla Freeman (Nazareth Academy, Chicago, Ill.) also scored eight. Allen finished with seven points and five rebounds and sophomore point guard Olivia Mayer (Libertyville HS, Green Oaks, Ill.) dished out a team-best seven assists in 22 minutes without ever attempting a shot. Briana Rae led Blackburn with 19 points and 11 boards.
 
The Vikings ended the night 33 of 72 (.458) from the field, six of 19 (.316) from beyond the arc and eight of 12 (.667) from the foul line. They held the Beavers to 18 of 56 (.321) field goal shooting and won the battle of the boards 51-36.
 
Augustana is back in action against Clarke in Dubuque, Iowa on Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 p.m.