WHEATON, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings women's basketball team stays on the road as they head to battle the Wheaton Thunder on Wednesday, January 24 for the second time this season.
The Vikings sit at 11-7 on the season and 6-3 in conference play. Augie returns to action after holding off the North Park Vikings on Saturday with a 61-52 victory. Augie maintained an early lead until North Park closed the gap at 9-9 with just under three minutes remaining in the first quarter. After finding themselves tied again at 11, Emma Berg executed a driving layup with 11 seconds left to give the Vikings a 13-11 advantage after 10 minutes of play. In the second, Augie held on to the upper hand throughout the rest of the quarter, out-scoring North Park 17-11 to take a 30-22 lead into the half.
Returning to the court, Augie had its best shooting quarter of the game at 43 percent and held North Park to just four made shots. Augustana moved its lead back out to 13 on two different occasions in the fourth, but the home team Vikings made it a close game down the stretch after cutting it to six at the 3:26 mark. A layup from Cali Papez stopped the scoring run in the final 90 seconds to keep North Park from getting the differential under five. Kadence Tatum led with 17 points, four rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Papez followed with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Macy Beinborn grabbed 10 points, seven rebounds, and a block.
Wheaton enters the mid-week contest with a 10-8 overall record and sits at 3-6 in conference play. The Thunder return to play after falling to North Central on Saturday by a score of 85-66. As a team, Wheaton shot 40.7 percent, while North Central obtained 48.5 percent for the game. The Thunder boast two players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Annie Tate with 18.6 points per game. Wheaton holds a 6-2 record at home, with their last win against Elmhurst, which concluded in a score of 80-69.
Wheaton holds a 54-26 all-time record over Augie, but the Vikings won the most recent outing last Wednesday at home by a score of 72-51. Beinborn and Berg both grabbed 16 points to lead the Vikings, while Beinborn also had five rebounds, four assists, one block, and two steals. Corey Whitlock and Tatum had eight points each, with Whitlock snatching eight rebounds, three assists, and one block. Tatum also added seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The live stream can be found here.
