The Vikings of Augustana University used one final push over the final four minutes of Friday night's Northern Sun Conference battle against the Peacock women's basketball team to escape UIU's upset bid in Sioux Falls, S.D. Augie outscored Upper Iowa 15-7 over the final four minutes and maintained their advantage at the free throw line down the stretch to hand the Peacocks a 77-67 loss to open the final weekend of the regular season. Upper Iowa falls to 5-22 overall and 4-17 in the conference, while Augustana improves to 21-6 overall and 15-6 in the NSIC.
Upper Iowa set out on a torrid pace to open the ballgame with 14 points in less than five minutes claiming a three-point advantage in the early going. The lead was thanks to seven points from
Whitney Kieffer and scores by three other Peacock players. Augustana responded with a 15-5 run over the final five minutes of the quarter to take a seven-point lead, 26-19, as the opening quarter ended.
The Vikings scored the first two points of the second quarter, but midway through the frame, the Peacocks had battled back to trail by only two. With the margin still at nine, 31-22, four minutes into the quarter, Upper Iowa began to rally thanks to a 7-0 run highlighted by a three-point play from Kieffer to spark the comeback. UIU got within a single point twice in the waning minutes of the first half, but never took the lead. Augustana got a layup just before the horn to take a 45-41 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the third quarter, Augie tried to pull away moving out to a 52-45 lead a little more than four minutes into the half, but Upper Iowa once again had an answer. The Peacocks scored six straight points to cut the gap back to one fueled by a three-pointer from
Aleesha Cleaver. The UIU senior guard also knocked down the final points of the quarter at the free throw line to put the gap at just two points, 57-55, heading into the final quarter.
A three-pointer from
Madi Meier and free throws from Kieffer and Pagel allowed the Peacocks to stay within striking distance in the fourth quarter. At the final media timeout with 4:22 to play, Augustana was clawing to a two-point advantage, 62-60. Unfortunately for Peacock fans, UIU would get no closer as a quick 5-0 run pushed the lead to seven and the home team didn't look back.
Sam Ofstad nailed her second three-pointer of the game with a minute and a half to play to cut the margin to five, but the Vikings made their five of six at the charity stripe in the final minute to extend their lead and claim the 77-67 decision.
Kieffer led all scorers with 20 points on the night including a perfect 7 of 7 at the free throw line. The Peacocks knocked down 18 of their 22 freebies in the game. Cleaver added 12 points after hitting all 5 of her shots at the charity stripe. Kieffer rounded out her night with 7 rebounds and 5 assists, while Pagel grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with her 9 points.
Sam Ofstad scored 8 points and handed out 4 assists.
The Peacocks will close out their regular season on Saturday evening when they visit Wayne State College looking for the season sweep of the Wildcats.
