DECATUR, Ill. – Millikin forced 28 Augustana turnovers Tuesday and defeated the Vikings 76-53 at the Griswold Center. Coach Mark Beinborn's club moved to 3-4 on the season and in the CCIW, while the Big Blue improved to 8-3 overall and in the conference.
 
Lauren Hall's (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) conventional three-point play on the game's opening possession gave the visitors an early lead and they still had a 5-2 edge after a Linnea Johansen (Parkway South HS, Manchester, Mo.) bucket a minute in. However, Miranda Fox  split two free throws then drained a three-pointer, igniting an 11-0 Millikin run that put the Big Blue up 13-5. They maintained that eight-point margin (18-10) at the end of the first quarter.
 
Macy Beinborn (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) opened the second period with a three-pointer as Augustana scored the first seven points to pull within one. Millikin answered again, though, as Bailey Coffman scored to spark a 13-0 spurt that extended its lead to 31-17. A Fox jumper pushed the margin to 40-22 before Hall and Johansen had baskets in the final minute to make it 40-26 Big Blue at the half.
 
The margin grew to as many as 23 in the third quarter and dipped under 20 just once (64-45) in the fourth—on a Beinborn trey with 9:24 to play.
 
Beinborn tallied a team-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Justice Edell (Rock Island HS, Milan, Ill.) scored 10 and dished out four assists. Hall snared nine rebounds. Elyce Knudsen led four Millikin players in double figures with 21 points. Coffman added 14, Fox 13 and Jazmin Brown 10.
 
Augustana finished 16 of 46 (.348) from the field, four of 17 (.235) from beyond the arc and 17 of 20 (.850) from the free throw line. The Big Blue shot .426 (29-68) from the floor, .313 (10-32) from long range and .571 (8-14) at the foul line. The Vikings had a 37-32 rebounding advantage, but coughed it up 28 times to just 11 turnovers for its hosts.
 
On Thursday, February 25, Augustana hosts Carroll at Carver Center with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m.