Box Score

DECATUR, Ill. – Augustana squandered a golden opportunity to jump back into the CCIW Tournament picture Saturday, dropping an 82-63 decision at Millikin. With Elmhurst losing to Carthage at home earlier in the day, a Viking win would have pulled Coach Mark Beinborn's club to within one game of the fourth-place Bluejays with two to play. However, the host Big Blue had different plans and improved to 7-15 on the season and 2-11 in the CCIW. Augustana dropped to 13-10 overall and 6-8 in the league.
 
Things looked great early, with junior Sadie Roberts (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) scoring four points  as the Vikings bolted to a 10-0 lead after three and a half minutes. Millikin whittled away however and eventually pulled even at 18-all on a Yanni Sadler basket with 1:16 left in the first period. Senior Victoria Allen (Eureka HS, Wildwood, Mo.) answered at 53 seconds and Augustana led 20-18 heading to the second quarter.
 
It looked as though the visitors would pull away again. A Roberts bucket 4:49 before halftime extended the Augustana lead back to 29-22, but the Big Blue responded with seven straight to tie it. Sadler's layup with 34 seconds left cut the Viking lead to 34-33 at the half.
 
Lauren Moses scored the first basket of the second half to give Millikin its first lead at 35-34. After Allen scored to regain the lead for Augustana and Moses split a pair of free throws to tie it at 36-all, Devin Curry scored at the 8:18 mark and the hosts had the lead for good. The Big Blue tallied the last six points of the quarter, including four by Emily Schultz, to extend their lead to double digits for the  first time at 57-46.
 
Izzy Anderson (Alleman HS, Rock Island, Ill.) hit three of four free throws early in the fourth to cut the deficit to eight (59-51), but Moses scored to push the margin back to double digits, where it stayed. Curry had three consecutive three-pointers in a 13-2 Millikin run that gave the Big Blue their biggest lead of the night at 82-60. An Allen trey in the last minute accounted for the final.
 
With the exception of a 20-12 turnover shortfall, Millikin dominated statistically. The Big Blue shot .484 from the field on 31 of 64, including .400 (6-15) on three-pointers. The hosts converted 14 of 17 (.824) free throws and limited the Vikings to 25 of 66 (.379) from the floor and three of 12 (.250) from beyond the arc. Augustana hit 10 of 17 (.588) from the foul line. Millikin had a whopping 48-29 edge on the glass, including 12 offensive rebounds that resulted in nine second-chance points.
 
Anderson led the Vikings with 16 points. Allen added 13 and sophomore Alexis Jones (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) nine, along with a team-high five rebounds. The Big Blue, which played only seven, were led by Curry's 19 points and Moses' 15 rebounds.
 
Beinborn's bunch is back at Carver Center on Saturday, February 17, hosting North Park on Senior Night at 5:00 p.m.