NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings women's basketball team fell by a score of 70-62 to the North Central Cardinals on Saturday.
Augie scored first but the Cardinals were quick to follow and obtain the slight advantage before a seven-point run by Augustana made a 9-4 score after five minutes of play. North Central evened the score at 9-9 a little over a minute later and snatched the upper hand with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Carly Stone closed out the quarter with a pair of free throws, but the Cardinals led 19-15 after 10 minutes of play.
Emma Berg kicked off the second quarter with a three-pointer to decrease the gap to one before a 6-0 run extended North Central's lead to 26-18. The Cardinals took off with the lead after a scoring drought from the Vikings to make a 35-22 score at the break. Kadence Tatum and Berg led the team in the first half with six points apiece.
The Vikings kicked off the third quarter with a 6-4 margin after four minutes of action but North Central followed with seven consecutive points to double the lead. With a little over a minute left in the quarter, Dolly Smith put up a jumper shot and a free throw before Stone notched a layup to get within 15. North Central secured the final shot of the third to make a 52-35 game entering the fourth.
Augie outscored the Cardinals 25-20 in the final quarter, with 10 of their points coming from the charity stripe. Paige Melton collected five points in nine seconds to help the team get within 12 at 7:40 to make a 55-43 game. The team got as close as 10 on five different occasions with Melton shrinking the gap to as little as nine after her seventh free throw of the quarter. North Central concluded the game with three shots for the charity line to take the game 72-60. The Vikings collected 40 shots off the glass while holding the Cardinals to 34.
Melton led the team with 17 points, while Tatum and Stone collected 10 apiece. Stone also had three steals and Melton and Tatum secured five rebounds apiece.
With the loss, Augie moves to 3-5 on the season and 1-1 in CCIW play. The team will return home on Saturday, December 16 for a conference battle against Carthage.
