Women's Basketball 2/1/06 -- Augsburg 80, St. Thomas 74

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/1/06) -- Shooting 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field in the second half, the Augsburg College women's basketball team broke a 41-game losing streak to the University of St. Thomas with an 80-74 victory in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.

Augsburg had not beaten the Tommies in women's basketball since a 62-54 victory on Jan. 23, 1985 at St. Thomas. Augsburg is now 5-14 overall, 3-12 in MIAC play, while St. Thomas is now 9-10 overall, 6-8 in MIAC play.

Rosinta Stromquist (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Auggies, recording her second double-double of the season.

Michelle Richter (Fr., Chaska, Minn.) went 6-for-6 from the field in the second half, scoring all her 14 points in the second stanza. She added nine rebounds. Katie LaGrave (So., Okinawa, Japan/Kadena HS) also had 14 points, going 5-or-8 from the field and 4-of-4 from three-point range, and Kristina Lurken (So., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) had 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Jacci Mattern (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.) and Alissa Blood (Jr., Mounds View, Minn./Irondale HS) had eight points apiece, with Blood adding four assists and four steals.

St. Thomas was led by Erica Opdahl (Sr., Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS), who had 25 points and nine rebounds. Anna Swanson (Fr., Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS) had 13 points and seven rebounds, Melissa Keiser (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.) had 12 points and Chelsea Wirtz (Fr., Waukee, Iowa/Dowling HS) had nine points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Trailing 18-16 with 9:30 left in the first half, St. Thomas went on a 18-5 run to claim its largest lead of the game, 34-23 with 3:30 left in the stanza. But Augsburg trimmed the lead on a 10-1 run, keyed by two 3-pointers from LaGrave and four points from Lurken, to trail 35-33 at halftime.

There were seven lead changes and six ties in the game. A 9-1 run midway through the second half gave Augsburg its largest lead of the game, 67-58 with 5:27 left to play. The Auggie advantage did not dip below five points the rest of the way.

Augsburg hit 23-of-33 from the free-throw line (69.7 percent), compared to 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) for the Tommies. St. Thomas hit 12-of-27 from beyond the three-point arc, led by Keiser's four, while Wirtz and Swanson had three apiece.

Both teams return to MIAC play on Saturday (2/4) at 1 p.m., with Augsburg playing at St. Catherine and St. Thomas hosting St. Benedict.