Women's Basketball 1/28/09 -- St. Thomas 72, Augsburg 48

ST. PAUL, Minn. (1/28/09) -- Augsburg College dropped a 72-48 Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball game to rival University St. Thomas on Wednesday night at UST's Schoenecker Arena.

Augsburg (3-14 overall, 1-13 MIAC) was led by a trio of players scoring in double figures. Michelle Richter (SR, Chaska, Minn.) led the Auggies with 16 points and seven rebounds. Christa SuedbeckSerenae Levine# (SR, Hugo, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) recorded 14 points and tied teammate # (FY, Eden Prairie, Minn.) with a game-high eight rebounds. Levine added 11 points and tied a game-high three assists.

St. Thomas (11-6 overall, 9-5 MIAC) was led by Jessica Katch (SR, Urbandale, Iowa/Dowling Catholic HS), who posted 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots. The balanced Tommie offense used scoring from an additional 12 players as they pulled away from the Auggies.

The Auggies took what would prove to be their only lead of the night, a 3-2 advantage, off a free throw by Suedbeck at the 16:55 mark. The aggressive Tommie defense held the Auggies to 26.7 percent (8-of-30) shooting from the field in the first half and took at 35-21 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

The Tommies outscored the Auggies 19-5 over the first 10 minutes of the second period and used strong defense to keep Augsburg out of its offensive rhythm. Augsburg shot only 24.2 percent (16-for-66) for the game, while the Tommies shot 45.0 percent (27-of-60) from the field. The Tommies held a slight advantage on the boards 46-42 and held the Augsburg outside game to a 0-for-7 performance from three-point range.

Augsburg returns to action on Saturday (1/31), when it travels to Northfield to take on St. Olaf College in a men's and women's doubleheader. The women's game is at 1 p.m., while the men's game is at 3 p.m.