Box Score:
After a convincing win a night earlier in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, the Augustana women’s basketball team had their hands full early with the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, but prevailed 72-60 to earn their third consecutive NSIC win.
The Vikings are now on a five-game winning streak as the team moves to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play, while the Bulldogs drop to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in NSIC action.
The game would start much like a night earlier, as
Amy Puthoff would get the offense going early and would do it from beyond the arc.
She was successful in the early moments, making her first two three pointers of the game and hit
Whitney Hofer in the corner for a third three pointer in the first four minutes of action to lead the Bulldogs 11-8.
But after the quick start, the Vikings would go cold as the Bulldogs would cause Augie to turn the ball over seven times in the first 10 minutes of action.
And that is when Puthoff took the offense into her own hands.
Puthoff would go 5-for-9 from the field and 4-for-6 from the three point line; scoring 18 points in the first half to give the Vikings a 33-26 halftime lead.
As a team the Vikings shot 11-for-31, while not giving up a single three pointer and held the Bulldog offense to just 12 made field goals in the first half of play that saw both teams exchange the lead seven times.
The Vikings came out of the half and jumped on the Bulldogs with a quick 11-4 run led by
Megan Doyle who scored seven points in the first four minutes to help Augie take a 14 point lead before a Duluth timeout.
The Bulldogs would not give in to the Vikings charge and got the game back to within six points at 49-43, but Augie would stop the bleeding and get their double digit lead back.
Puthoff would score a game-high and season-high 26 points, while dishing out three assists and grabbing four rebounds in Saturday’s contest. She also was 12-for-12 from the free throw line in the game.
Doyle would end the night with 18 points and would tie her career-high with six rebounds.
Redshirt freshman
Kathryn Van Duynhoven would give the Vikings a spark off the bench scoring eight points in the second half. In the game, Van Duynhoven scored a career-high 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in 16 minutes of work on the night.
Hofer ended the night with a solid nine points and eight rebounds for Augustana.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was Jheri Booker who ended the night with 23 points and had five steals.
As a team, Augie would shoot 20-for-54 from the field, good for 37 percent and held the Bulldogs to 39 percent on 25-64 shooting.
Augustana will be on back on the road next week to take on Minnesota State Moorhead at 6 p.m. Friday night in Moorhead, Minn.