saint paul, minn. - the golden bears (6-7, 3-4 nsic) dropped their fourth straight game on tuesday night as augustana (9-3, 6-2 nsic) overcame a 15 point half time deficit to pick up the 80-77 win. rachel hansen (below right, eagan, minn.) had a career high 23 points, thanks to 12-16 from the foul line. jodi batzel (bottom right, rochester, minn.) added 14 points and seven rebounds. anika whiting (ashland, wis.) and tierra bender (milwaukee, wis.) each added 12. box score
concordia used a fast start to jump out to a 22-14 lead just before the media timeout in the first half. The golden bears pounded the ball inside in the opening ten minutes getting 17 of their first 22 points from their post players. Batzel had eight of her points in the first ten minutes of action.
batzel’s counterpart whiting took over after that scoring six of cu’s next 12 points as the golden bears took a 34-18 lead with 7:04 left in the half. Augustana was unable to cut into the lead as concordia took control from the foul line late in the half and took a 46-31 lead into the locker room.
augustana used a 15-6 run to start the second half, closing the cu lead to 52-46. Hansen hit a three pointer after run to put lead back at nine but augustana got within three at 55-52 with a three at the 13:24 mark. A layup by alex feeny with 11:09 left cut the gap to just two making it a one possession game.
the run was aided by four made three pointers in the opening ten minutes of the second half, helping them get back in the game. Emily schulte gave au their first lead since early in the first half with a deep three at the 5:57 mark of the second half. Feeny hit a three on augustana’s next possession to extend the lead to four. Au kept scoring hitting a jumper and then another three to take a 75-66 lead, their largest of the game.
the second half comeback was fueled by augustana hitting deep range shots. Their lead was as large as 78-68 with 2:58 left before concordia made a final push, scoring six straight points to cut the lead to four with 1:08 left in the game. Hansen had a chance to cut the lead to two 38 seconds left but missed on her second free throw. Concordia fouled augustana on their next possession and au missed the front end of a one and one giving cu the ball back down three with 32 seconds left.
the golden bears could not convert after a timeout and sent au to the line again. Augustana again failed to make the front end of a one and one. Hansen corralled the rebound and was fouled sending her to the line where she made both free throws cutting the lead to just one at 78-77.
concordia was forced to foul once again and again augustana could not make a free throw. mandy poke (richfield, minn.) was fouled driving the lane with 5.6 seconds left, giving cu a chance to take the lead late. She missed both free throws and concordia had to foul augustana with 1.8 seconds left. Shaunteva ashley hit both free throws and batzel’s heave at the buzzer came up empty as augustana came away with the 80-77 win.
photos: ted schwerzler
