The Augustana women’s basketball team faced off against two CCIW opponents last week, and the Vikings were able to win both contests in convincing fashion.
On Wednesday night, the Vikings hosted the North Central Cardinals at the Carver Center. Taking an 11-point lead into halftime, Augie outscored the Cardinals by 28 points in the second half, winning by a final score of 94-55.
Junior guard, Izzy Anderson, led the Vikings with 27 points, six rebounds, and three steals.
Augustana followed that performance up with a strong showing against the North Park Vikings. Augie, led by sophomore guard, Alexis Jones’s, double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, scored the first 17 points of the contest and never looked back. The Vikings won by a score of 77-51, which is its fourth win in five games.
“Overall, I thought we played really well in both games,” Anderson said. “I think the biggest key for us was playing with confidence from start to finish. It was really nice to get two team wins heading into this tougher stretch of the conference season.”
After a 2-3 start, the Vikings have won three conference games in a row and now hold a record of 5-3 in CCIW play.
It was not an ideal start for the Vikings, but Anderson is optimistic after seeing the team’s response.
“I’d say there’s definitely room for improvement, but I was happy to see us get back on track,” Anderson said. “And on the bright side, we still control our own destiny going forward. Each game in this second half of our conference season is going to be very important.”
Augie now heads into a crucial part of their schedule, as they square-off against several of the CCIW’s top teams.
With the Vikings now having some momentum, Jones is hoping to see the team carry that through the end of the regular season and beyond.
“A big thing we emphasize is taking every game one at a time, so our goal is to focus on the now and win every game one at a time,” Jones said. “This is especially true since we play in one of the toughest conferences. By taking everything one step at a time, hopefully we are able to finish out strong and make a big run at the conference tournament.”
However, Jones knows that will not be an easy task for her and her teammates. The main keys, according to Jones, are staying focused and working hard.
“I think it’s very important to stay enthusiastic and focused, because that can be hard at the end of long seasons,” she said. “These upcoming weeks, we need to stay engaged and really come together as a team. We just need to stay concentrated and buy in to everything we have worked hard for.”
Augustana has a home CCIW match-up this week at the Carver Center. The Vikings will host Carthage on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.