SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-12, 8-11 NSIC) played a tough game, but were ultimately defeated by the Augustana Vikings (22-3, 16-3 NSIC) at the Sanford Pentagon 95-67. 

The Augie women led for the entire contest, opening up the scoring with a 3-pointer before going on a 10-1 run to take an 11 point lead with three minutes left in the first quarter. The Bears answered back with their own 10-4 run that included 3-pointers from Ally Gietzel and Raegan Alexander to bring the score to 23-16 at the end of the quarter.

Concordia brought the deficit to five points halfway through the second quarter after some early basket and a converted and-1 opportunity by Alexander. Sarah Kuma scored 10 points off the bench in the second period, including CSP's final six points of the half to keep the deficit at seven heading into the half, 43-35.

The Vikings exploded for 28 points in the third quarter, knocking down 11 of their 17 shots from the field to take a commanding 70-50 lead by the end of the period. Augustana out-rebounded the Golden Bears 12-3 in the quarter, converting those into six second chance points and a 20-8 advantage in points in the paint. 

 It was much of the same for Augie in the final frame, shooting over 60-percent in a quarter for the third time (66.7 percent) to hold off any Golden Bear comebacks and win their tenth game in a row, 95-69.

The Vikings were dominant in the paint, scoring 68 of their points down low, doubling the 30 points in the paint from CSP. Much of the credit has to go to Augustana forward and guard pairing of Aislinn Duffy and Lauren Sees. Duffy picked up her ninth double-double of the season and 21st of her career, scoring 23 points while leading the team in rebounds (12), assists (five) and blocks (2). 

Lauren Sees was the top scorer in the game, setting a career record with 30 points while shooting 10-of-19 from the floor, 1-of-3 from deep, and 9-of-9 from the free throw line. The junior guard also added three rebounds and three assists in the win.

The Golden Bears had four players score double digits for the fourth time this season, led by Sarah Kuma's 18 point performance. It was the sophomore's best game since mid-december, knocking down three 3-pointers while getting three steals and two assists. 

Gietzel continued to be one of CSP's best scoring options, finishing right behind Kuma with 17 points and leading the team with seven rebounds. Raegan Alexander shot 62.5 percent from the floor with two 3-pointers as the redshirt freshman picked up 13 points and three rebounds.

Megan Gamble rounded out the group of four, scoring in double figures for the first time in eight games while picking up 3 rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow at 5:30 when they head south to take on the Wayne State Wildcats and avenge their 62-53 loss from December. WSC is coming off of a rough 94-80 loss to #17 Minnesota State on Friday night in a game where they held the lead for nearly 60-percent of the game. With losses from both teams, Concordia retains their one game advantage over Wayne State for the fourth seed in the NSIC South.