Senior Sadie Roberts scored six points and grabbed three rebounds as the
Vikings fell to North Central 69-58 on Wednesday night in the Carver Center.
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – A scoring draught in the final 4:14 proved costly on Wednesday, December 5 as Augustana dropped a 69-58 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin decision to North Central in the Carver Center. The Vikings failed to score after junior Jeni Crain
(Woodstock HS, Woodstock, Ill.) tied the game with a basket to make it 58-58 with 4:14 left to play.
With score all knotted up the Cardinals tallied the last 11 points of the game with six of those coming at the free throw line. Augustana missed its last nine shots of the contest.
North Central broke out to a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and held a 35-27 advantage at halftime. The Vikings clawed back in the game by outscoring the visitors 18-11 in the third stanza and heading into the fourth, and final quarter, the Cardinals lead was a single point (46-45).
Over the first three minutes Augustana appeared to take control of the game. Senior
Izzy Anderson (Alleman Catholic HS, Rock Island, Ill.) hit a basket coming out of the break to give the Vikings the lead (47-46) for the first time since the early going. A three point field goal from junior
Mia Lambert (Macomb HS, Macomb, Ill.) made it 50-46 with 9:31 left.
North Central's Tyonne Howard scored at 8:59 to make it 50-48 but baskets by senior
Clare Kramer (Prophetstown HS, Lyndon, Ill.) at 8:03 and another from junior
Alexis Jones (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) at 7:20 pushed the lead to 54-48.
On the next two possessions, however, the Cardinals got back-to-back three point baskets from Hannah Vitkus and Lyndsay Brennan to tie the contest at 54-54. It was tied again at 56-56 and 58-58 before the Cardinals shut out Augustana over the final 4:14 to pick up the victory.
Jones led Augustana in scoring with 17 points and nine rebounds while Anderson had 12 points and eight rebounds. They were the only two Vikings in double figures. Augustana shot just .357 (20-56) from the field and only made 16 of 23 (.696) free throws. North Central also won the rebounding battle by a margin of 45-39.
Howard led the Cardinals in scoring with 21 points and she also had five assists.
Augustana is now 4-4 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW while North Central moved to 2-4 and 1-1. The Vikings will host Illinois Wesleyan at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 8 in the Carver Center.
