Women's Basketball 11/15/08 -- University of Chicago (Ill.) 68, Augsburg 48

CHICAGO, Ill. (11/15/08) -- Using a 23-2 scoring run in the first 7:12 of the second half, the University of Chicago women's basketball team pulled away from Augsburg College, en route to a 68-48 victory in the teams' opening game of the season, a semifinal contest at the University of Chicago Midway Classic tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Ratner Athletics Center.

Bryanne Halfill scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half for Chicago (1-0), which shot 46.9 percent (15-of-32) from the field in the first half after shooting just 24.2 percent (8-of-33) in the first half. The Maroons are ranked No. 11 in the preseason D3hoops.com Division III national poll.

Augsburg (0-1) was led by Shannon Renne (SO, Nicollet, Minn.), who scored 15 points with six rebounds. She scored 14 of her 15 points in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers. Michelle Richter (SR, Chaska, Minn.) scored 12 points, and Serenae Levine (FY, Eden Prairie, Minn.) had seven points, 10 rebounds and five assists in her collegiate debut.

The Auggies shot 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from the field in the first half, and were trailing 31-28 at halftime . The Maroons used a 23-2 run to take a 54-30 lead with 12:48 to go in the game, eventually pulling away to lead by as many as 29 points late in the game.

Augsburg will face Ithaca (N.Y.) in the tournament third-place game on Sunday (11/16) at 11 a.m., while Chicago will face Chapman (Calif.) in the championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m. Chapman defeated Ithaca 73-54 in Saturday's other semifinal.