DECATUR, Ill.— Buoyed by the return of point guard Justice Edell (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.), Augustana rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit Tuesday to defeat Millikin 76-69 in CCIW Tournament first round play at the Griswold Center. The Vikings will take on Illinois Wesleyan in semifinal action on Friday, February 28 in Wheaton, Illinois. The program's first postseason win since 1990 lifted Coach Mark Beinborn's outfit to 14-12 on the year. The Big Blue's season came to a close at 16-10.
 
Consecutive three-pointers by Natalie Snyder and Bailey Coffman gave the hosts a seemingly comfortable 49-40 advantage as the clock ticked under four minutes in the third quarter. However, a pair of Gabriela Loiz (Alleman HS, Davenport, Iowa) layups bookended a 9-0 Augustana run over 2½ minutes that pulled Augustana even for the first time since midway through the second quarter.
 
Coffman and Jeni Crain (Woodstock HS, Woodstock, Ill.) swapped two free throws apiece before two Macy Beinborn (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) charity tosses gave the Vikings a 53-51 lead. Coffman beat the third-quarter horn with a layup and the teams went to the fourth even at 53-all.
 
After nearly two minutes of scoreless basketball, Edell fed Alexis Jones (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) for a jumper that gave Augustana a lead it wouldn't relinquish. By the four-minute mark, the Vikings had extended the advantage to 67-55, having outscored Millikin 14-2 to start the period. Jones and Beinborn each had six points in the spree.
 
The Big Blue twice got to within five, but Augustana drilled seven of eight free throws in the final 1:10 to ice the victory.
 
Behind 10 points by Jones, the visitors led for most of the first quarter, but Miranda Fox's three-pointer just before the buzzer gave Millikin a 16-15 lead.
 
The advantage changed hands twice early in the second period before a four-point play by Edell tied things at 21-all. Jordan Hildebrand's layup put the Big Blue back on top and after a Kelle Knopp triple, the margin bounced between three and five points for four minutes. Two Coffman free throws and a Jazmin Brown three-pointer gave Millikin its largest lead of the night (37-27) with 1:33 left in the half. Edell's layup drew the Vikings to within 37-29 at intermission.
 
Jones finished with game highs of 26 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Mia Lambert (Macomb HS, Macomb, Ill.) added 14 points and Beinborn came off the bench for 13. Lauren Hall (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) matched Jones' nine boards and Crain finished with eight points, five rebounds and four assists. After missing the last 13 games with an injury, Edell returned to score nine points and dish out a game-high six assists in 19 minutes.
 
Coffman was the only Big Blue to score in double figures, finishing with 25.
 
In a battle of the CCIW's top two rebounding teams, Augustana held a commanding 47-37 edge on the glass. The Vikings' win was also keyed by a 23-of-26 (.885) performance from the free throw line. They shot .407 (24-59) from the field and .263 (5-19) from three-point range and committed 16 turnovers. Millikin was 26 of 71 (.366) from the floor, eight of 25 (.320) from long range and nine of 11 (.818) at the foul line, while turning it over a dozen times.
 
Augustana will square off with Illinois Wesleyan at 5:00 p.m. in Friday's first semifinal. Host and top seed Wheaton faces North Central at 7:00 p.m., with the winners playing Saturday, February 29 at 7:00 p.m. for the conference tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.