ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-9, 1-7 NSIC) rallied to erase a double digit deficit in the second half but were unable to hang on in an 81-70 loss to Augustana (12-3, 6-3 NSIC) at the Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.
 
The Golden Bears went into the half down 11 and rattled off 13 straight points in the third quarter to take the lead but were unable to hang on as the Vikings regained the lead and claimed the victory.
 
CSP shot just 26.1% (6-23) in the first and 22.2% (4-18) in the second before firing an efficient 69.2% (9-13) in the third and 46.7% (7-15) in the fourth, but the first half hole proved to be too much to overcome. Augustana knocked down 42.4% (25-59) on the night.
 
Concordia's pressure defense turned into 19 Augie turnovers as they edged the Vikings 17-9 in points off of turnovers while they also controlled down low with a 34-24 advantage in points in the paint, but it wasn't enough.
 
Anna Schmitt was once again in control of the offense as she collected her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 assists to go along with five rebounds on the night. The 11 assists represented a new career high and tied for 20^th most in program history. Her mark was the most since Ameshia Kearney had 12 back on January 17, 2015.
 
Lauren Shifflett helped carry the scoring load as she led the team with 16 points while adding three boards and a pair of steals. Caitlyn Russell joined the pair in double figures in the starting lineup with 11 points as she fell short of a double-double by a rebound as she finished with nine.
 
Off the bench, it was a career day for freshmen Courtney Lyons and Hanna Vidlund. They both collected 12 points while Lyons hit a pair of three and picked up two rebounds while Vidlund also set a career best with six rebounds and added two steals.
 
For the Vikings, Nicole Kerkhoff was a dominant force as she led the way with 24 points and 11 rebounds while also adding four steals in a massive double-double.
 
After CSP scored the first four points of the game, Augustana embarked on an extended 17-6 run to build a comfortable 17-10 lead just past the midway point of the first quarter. The Vikings kept their foot on the gas for the rest of the period as they finished off strong with six in a row to turn a 20-15 lead into a 26-15 advantage heading into the second.
 
That lead reached its largest of the night after a three on their opening possession of the second quarter before a 6-0 run pulled Concordia back to within single digits at 29-21 with 4:53 left in the half. CSP remained within eight with under two minutes left in the half, but Augustana pulled back out to an 11 point lead at 39-28 heading into the break.
 
Concordia came out firing to open the third quarter as they ran off an impressive 13-0 run to briefly pull ahead 41-39. They pushed their lead to three at 44-41 just over six and a half minutes into the third, but the Vikings regained the lead with seven in a row to make it 48-44 in their favor. CSP cut it back to within one before the end of the quarter before Augie took a 55-51 lead into the fourth.
 
The Golden Bears remained within one possession until the 4:08 mark of the fourth quarter with a score of 67-64 before the Vikings pulled away. A pair of buckets for Augie pushed it to three possessions at 71-64 as they didn't allow Concordia to pull closer than five the rest of the way before closing out the 80-71 win.
 
Concordia will look to get back in the win column tomorrow afternoon as they take on Wayne State at 4 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.