Article

Women's Hoops Loses Third Straight

Augustana's Adamson sparks second-half rally as Augustana takes game, extends Mavericks' losing streak.

by Andrew Miller

Issue date: 1/23/07 Section: Womens Sports

Last Tuesday's loss to Bemidji State is one the women's basketball team would rather forget, and it doesn't help that Amy Lawson's 55-footer at the buzzer to give the Beavers the 86-83 win popped up on ESPN's "SportsCenter" Thursday and has since made the rounds on YouTube.

While it wasn't as dramatic as the BSU game, the Mavericks (13-6, 1-3 NCC) suffered another setback Saturday night, losing 72-67 to Augustana (20-2, 5-0) at home.

After a blistering 12-1 start to the season, the Mavericks have won just two of their past seven games, leaving the team shaken during a crucial stretch in the season.

The Mavericks were up to their neck right away Saturday night, as Augustana stormed out of the gate to a 23-8 lead with 11:33 left in the first half. Using a feisty 2-3 zone defense, the Vikings forced the Mavericks into poor outside shots and five turnovers during the stretch.

After finally figuring out the zone, the Mavericks pulled to within one point, trailing 36-37 at the half.

Playing inspired ball early in the second half, the Mavericks played bucket-for-bucket before building a 49-44 lead with 13:16 left. Then Augustana's 5-5 sparkplug Alison Adamson came to life, guiding a 22-7 Vikings run over the next seven minutes with 11 points.

From there, the Mavericks got stuck in a futile game of catch-up, finally losing 72-67. The victory extended the Vikings winning streak to 20 straight.

Sophomore forward Alex Andrews felt encouraged the Mavericks kept the game close, despite their poor play.

"We know that we didn't play our best in that game against a good team and we lost by five," Andrews said. "We knew we weren't playing well. We're going to take that positively."

Andrews led the Mavericks with 12 points and seven rebounds while freshman Tiffany Moe scored 11 points along with six rebounds and three assists.

Adamson led the Vikings with 23 points, five steals and four assists. Moe had the misfortune of guarding Adamson.

"She's a good player," Moe said, "And we just had to keep her in front of us and she did a great a job handling our defense."

Though the Mavericks pulled down 38 rebounds to Augustana's 31 (including a 19-7 offensive rebound advantage), they shot an icy 38.8 percent from the field compared to the Vikings' 52.8 percent.

The Mavericks host No. 1 North Dakota 6 p.m. Thursday night. The Fighting Sioux are 21-1 and riding a 16-game winning streak.

Andrew Miller is the Reporter Editor in Chief