Women's basketball falls in first round of NSIC tournament

The No. 12 Augustana women’s basketball team ended its season in the first round of the NSIC tournament against No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State University 93-85 on Feb. 28 in Marshall, Minnesota. 

Senior guard and forward Michaela Jewett scored 21 points and received 11 rebounds. Seniors forward Aby Phipps, guard Lauren Sees and center Johanna Miller all tallied 17 points. Junior guard Kelsey Willems was also able to put three on the board with an assist from Jewett. 

“I think looking at the season as a whole, there’s a big difference from the second half to the beginning,” Willems said. “Even with the losses, you can see the growth that we made. From the beginning, we were losing by 10 to 15 every single game. The second half of the season things started to come together. I think that we needed a little bit more time.”

A 3-pointer by Sees pushed the Vikings to a one-point lead of 26-25 going into the second quarter. 

The Mustangs started off the scoring in the second quarter with a 3-pointer and two layups. As the Mustangs added to their tally, Miller recorded two free throws, Jewett landed a layup and senior guard Kenzie Rensch shot a jumper to push Augustana closer to the Mustangs’ lead of  37-32. 

The Vikings continued their response with Phipps tossing two layups and sophomore guard CJ Adamson and Jewett both scoring additional layups. As the teams headed into the locker rooms, the Vikings were down by three at 43-40. 

In the third quarter, each team scored a total of 20 points, resulting in a score of 63-60 before the final quarter. 

The Vikings fought in the third quarter with two steals by Rensch and Miller. Rensch assisted the ball to Phipps, who made a layup. Miller passed the ball to Adamson, who assisted it to fifth-year forward Jennifer Aadland.

“Even with two minutes left, we got it back within seven, and there were little spurts of getting a steal or putting in a three,” junior guard Katie Leisen said. “I honestly think if we had ten more minutes, there was a fight there. We could have made a run back at them.” 

For the last quarter, the Vikings put 25 points on the board while Southwest Minnesota put on 30. 

After Augustana, Southwest Minnesota advanced to the semifinals but fell to Minnesota State-Mankato 88-72. The Vikings faced Southwest Minnesota previously in the season, falling 76-66 on Dec. 16.  

“We played a great all around game against Southwest Minnesota State,” head coach Jillian Flores Bennett. “Ultimately, we had a hard time getting defensive stops, which was our achilles heel this year.” 

Overall, the Vikings averaged 63.5 points per game this season with a total amount of 1,714. The top scorers were Jewett with 402 points, Sees at 397 and Aadland at 292. 

This season also marked the first season for Flores Bennett after taking over for former head coach Dave Krauth, who coached the Vikings for 34 years. 

“Coaching at three institutions within three years at three different levels has taught me so much,” Flores Bennett said. “Although the season did not bring as many wins as we would have liked, I am excited to hit the recruiting trail to continue building our roster. Augustana has a lot of strong history and tradition, and I’m excited to continue advancing our program with fresh ideas and talent.”

The NSIC tournament was the final one in the Viking career of Sees, Jewett and Rensch. The Vikings earned an overall record of 7-20 and a conference record of 6-16.