Just as the the women’s basketball team was able to start each period with the first points, they consistently kept control of the game on Saturday, leading to their 81-55 win over the College of Central Iowa.
Even when the Vikings were in trouble of losing their lead, the head coach, Mark Beinborn, reminded his team to stay in control.
Beinborn was proud of how the Vikings reacted as the Central Dutch encroached on their lead.
“You don’t just make a win happen,” Beinborn said. “A team goes on a run and you stay consistent and you stay solid and eventually you’ll pull away. They did that tonight and I’m proud of them.”
The Vikings started off strong in the first period, leading the Central of Iowa Dutch 21-12.  Senior Marissa Pezzopane led the Vikings that first period with nine points.
The Vikings continued to expand their lead in the second half, leading 25-12, their biggest lead of the second half. Central began to battle back, cutting down Augustana’s lead of 13 points to four as the Vikings led 33-29.
Pezzopane and junior Mikayla Fallon were able to help the Vikings keep their lead as they scored 24 of the Vikings 33 with Pezzopane scoring 17 and Fallon scoring seven.
After the start of the second half, the Augustana Vikings and the Central Dutch battled back and forth, answering each other’s jumpers and three pointers as the lead difference remained the same at the end of the third. The Vikings led 52-48.
That was the closest that the Dutch ever came to overtaking the Vikings as the fourth quarter began. Starting at 9:25 left to go in the fourth, the Vikings began their 22-2 run, effectively shutting out Central.
Central went on a six minute and nine second dry spell, scoring no points.
The Vikings’ biggest lead of the game was when they first led by 26 points when the score was 76-50.
Pezzopane was a major contributor to the major lead the Vikings had, scoring 31 points for the Vikings. Although she sat out for much of the third period due to foul trouble, she managed to score 12 points in the fourth period alone.
Pezzopane goal for the season was to go over 30 points and gave her team most of the credit for the points.
“I think that’s the most points I’ve ever had,” Pezzopane said. “I’ve never hit over 30. I never pay attention to points, but with that I got to give my teammates credit because all the shots that I got, they fed me the ball and I just had the confidence when they gave it to me.”
Other players were key for the Vikings. Fallon was right behind Pezzopane in points with 28, junior Kaycee Kallenberger had eight rebounds, and junior Olivia Mayer had eight assists.
Going forward, Beinborn hopes the team can use this game as momentum going into their next game against Coe college.
“We’re going to enjoy it for the rest of the night, but use it going forward to get back to work on Monday,” Beinborn said.
Pezzopane said this game will be a huge asset going forward as well.
“Just using this and showing how we need to carry that energy and play aggressive and taking each game as a learning experience,” Pezzopane said. “So (we’ll) use this game to fuel us for our next game.”
The Vikings’ next game will be against Coe College at 3 p.m. on Nov. 20 at Coe College.