ROCK ISLAND – The Augustana women's basketball team remains at the Carver Center on Saturday, February 18 to face the North Park Vikings on Senior Night.
The Vikings possess a record of 16-8, 10-5 in the conference, and sit third in the CCIW standings. Augie is coming off a dominant 83-57 home win over the North Central Cardinals on Wednesday, February 15. The Vikings used a fast start to leap to a 23-5 advantage midway through the opening period, highlighted by a 12-point effort from Gabriela Loiz, whose two-point jumper with four minutes to go saw her eclipse 1,000 career points in an Augustana uniform. Augie entered the locker room with a 29-point advantage after holding the Cardinals to nine points in the second quarter. North Central battled fiercely in the second half but could not overcome the deficit as the Vikings secured their ninth home win. Loiz grabbed five rebounds and two steals to go with her game-high 27 points. Carly Stone and Cali Papez both secured double doubles, each hauling in 10 boards apiece. Stone had 13 points, while Papez had 10. Augie out-rebounded the Cardinals by a 52-28 margin, including 19-1 on the offensive glass.
North Park enters Saturday's matchup sporting a 9-15 record, 5-10 in the conference. Their most recent action resulted in a narrow 59-56 victory over Carthage on Wednesday to keep their postseason hopes intact. Three Vikings eclipsed double-digit point totals to help secure the conference win, Victoria Perry with 18, Esther Miller with 14, and Chantel Hairston with 10. North Park was all over the Firebirds defensively, generating 21 turnovers, including 11 steals. The Vikings are still alive for a berth into the CCIW Tournament entering Saturday's contest against Augustana.
Augustana leads North Park 42-37 in the all-time series. The most recent matchup between the conference foes came on December 10, when the Augie dropped North Park 66-57 in the Windy City. With 12 lead changes in the game, Augie pulled away off an 11-2 scoring run late in the fourth period. Augustana's leading scorer was Loiz, who tallied 20 points and led all players on the glass with seven boards. Elsewhere, Macy Beinborn and Presley Case contributed 12 and 13-point efforts, while Matayia Tellis put in 11 points and generated five steals to help Augie win the turnover battle.
The Vikings will look to triumph on Senior Night and cap off their regular season with a season sweep of North Park. The contest begins at 5:00 p.m. from the Roy J. Carver Center and can be streamed here.
