UMC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL LATE RALLY COMES UP SHORT IN LOSS TO AUGUSTANA

The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s basketball team’s late comeback came up short in a 63-54 loss to the Augustana Vikings in a Northern Sun Conference game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

FIRST QUARTER
Augustana opened up the game with a three-pointer 15 seconds into the game. The Golden Eagles answered with an Emma Carpenter (Fresh. Eagan) three-pointer and Paige Cornale (Soph. Oak Creek, Wis) scored on a fastbreak, and Abby Guidinger (Jr. Waukesha, Wis) made two free throws to cap a 7-0 run for a 7-3 lead almost halfway through the quarter. Augustana started to heat up from downtown and made back-to-back three-pointers for a 9-7 lead. The back-and-forth battle continued as UMC’s Amber Schoenicke made back-to-back layups for an 11-9 lead and the Golden Eagles took an 11-10 lead into the second quarter. “I thought we defended well,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Mike Roysland. “They’re a good three point shooting team. They attacked the rim and we opened up the game. I was happy with our defense on the ball.” 

SECOND QUARTER-
A little over a minute into the second quarter, UMC led 13-12 when Augustana picked up their offensive play and went on a 6-0 run for an 18-13 lead. Minnesota Crookston’s Kylie Post (Soph. Corcoran) scored on a layup halfway through the quarter and over two minutes later, Alyssa Peterson (Fresh. Menahga) made two free throws and UMC trailed 18-17 with 2:27 left in the half. Augustana dominated the final two minutes of the half and finished on a 7-1 run and took a 25-18 into halftime. UMC only made six of their 23 two-point shots in the half and only made one of 11 three-point attempts. “We were only eight despite not playing very efficiently,” noted Roysland. “We missed a lot of shots in the second quarter.”

THIRD QUARTER –
Augustana started the second half like they ended the first half, on an impressive run. The Vikings started the half with a 9-0 run in the first three minutes for a 34-18 lead. UMC finally snapped their offensive drought with a basket from Guidinger and the teams played even the rest of the quarter and Augustana took a 47-31 lead into the fourth quarter. “It was really our undoing in that third quarter,” said Roysland. “We had a lot of good looks in the third quarter. We finally got the ball into the high seam. We had some good things going, but we had too many good looks where we came away with nothing. We kind of let them get the lead built up and once we finally figured it out it was too late. A lot of things just happen more smoothly when you’re able to make shots.”

FOURTH QUARTER –
Minnesota Crookston had a good start to the fourth quarter with a 6-2 run behind four points from Mary Burke (Fresh. Virginia) and a Guidinger basket to get within 12 points (49-37) with over eight minutes left in the game. UMC continued to slowly chip away at the deficit over the next seven minutes and after a steal and basket from Post, the Golden Eagles trailed by six points (60-54) with 48 seconds left in the game. The Golden Eagles missed a free throw to get within five points, and Augustana made two baskets in the final seconds to win 63-54. “We just ran out of time,” added Roysland. “Hopefully we can continue the way we played in the fourth quarter going forward. We’ve got to stay positive and keep moving forward.”

UMC drops to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the NSIC and will host Wayne State (Neb.) on Saturday. Augustana improves to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the NSIC and will travel to Bemidji State on Saturday.