For the first time in Augustana women’s basketball history, the team earned the 5-0 start after the team took on Coe College last night at the Roy J. Carver Center and won 103-94.
The Vikings had the lead for three periods, until the fourth period where Coe took regained the lead. The Vikings were able to keep up with the Coe Kohawks, resulting in a tie, 87-87, and the team’s going into overtime.
In overtime, the Vikings were able to overcome the Kohawks after some key three pointers by senior guard Mikayla Fallon and sophomore guard Corrie Reiley.
In the first period, the Vikings were off to a slow start as Coe scored three points off a lay-up and a free throw after the first 50 seconds of the period. The Vikings were able to get on the scoreboard soon after when senior center Kaycee Kallenberger made two free throws.
Augie got their first lead after junior guard Victoria Allen scored the first three pointer at 4:12 putting Augie up 11-9.
The first period ended with Augie leading 21-17.
The second period started with a two point shot by Kallenberger. The Vikings and Kohawks continued to closely contest each other throughout the second period leading to the Vikings maintaining their lead 46-41.
Head coach Mark Beinborn said the overall plan for the game was to have a strong offense and to force the Kohwaks to play a fast paced game.
“We wanted to play our game and a forced tempo,” Beinborn said. “We wanted a high speed game and (full-court) press the whole time. We just wanted to make sure we got a lot of shots up, pushed the ball and pressured them and got them to speed up throughout the game.”
As the game went into the third period, the Vikings and the Kohawks continued to battle. The Vikings earned their largest lead of the game in third, leading by nine points. The Kohawks managed to bring down the lead to three points by the end of the period as the Vikings led 62-59.
The fourth period began with sophomore forward Sadie Roberts scoring four points. Coe took their first lead since the first period during the fourth after scoring two points resulting in a score of 68-70. After three key three pointers by sophomore guard Izzy Anderson and junior guard Victoria Allen, the Vikings regained their lead, but the Kohawks didn’t go down easily as they managed to tie the game. The game went to overtime with a score of 87-87.
Allen said the three pointers did more than boost the score, it boosted moral.
“I was wide open so I took it. They went in, the first one brought our energy back,” Allen said.
After a short break, the Vikings took the lead in overtime after a free throw by Kallenberger. To extend the lead, Reiley hit her second three pointer of the night to lengthen the Vikings lead to 91-87. The Vikings were able to wrap up the game after tying their biggest lead of the night to close out with a Vikings win.
Anderson said the team performed strongly during the fourth quarter.
“We did a really good job moving the ball late in the game. When open shots came there wasn’t much to think about because we know when we’re up just to shoot,” said Anderson.
The Vikings will be looking to extend their winning streak to six games at 5 p.m on Saturday at the Roy J. Carver Center. They will face CCIW opponent North Park University.