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Game Reaction: Head Coach Aaron Kahl

ST. PAUL -- Despite being outscored 37-21 in the first half, the Northwestern College women's basketball team came back to make it a game in the second period before Augsburg College left the Ericksen Center with a 61-51 victory. Northwestern won the second half battle, but 30 turnovers and a 17-5 Auggies advantage in offensive rebounding did the Eagles in.

Things were knotted up early at 11-11 before Augsburg forced three consecutive NWC turnovers and scored on each of them, forcing Eagles head coach Aaron Kahl to take a timeout.  Unfortunately, Kahl had to take a second timeout just minutes later after the Auggies had scored 13 straight points and led 24-11. The visitors' lead got as high as 19 before the two teams went into the locker room with Augsburg leading 37-21.

Northwestern mounted a charge in the second half, turning a 15-point Auggies advantage into seven points on Chanel Madson (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove)'s (Westbrook, Minn./Westbrook-Walnut Grove) made three-point basket. The point margin teetered around nine or 10 points for several minutes until Kristin Sczublewski (Pierz, Minn./Pierz) made a jumper to cut the lead to 56-49 with 2:29 to go. Augsburg's Kendra Ware responded with a layup on the other end of the court, forcing the Eagles to foul before the game ended at 61-51 in the Auggies' favor.

NWC didn't have a terrible shooting night, making over 43 percent of its shots. But an 8-to-30 assist-to-turnover ratio hurt, while Augsburg won the rebounding battle 35-26, gathering 17 offensive boards. The Auggies played the shooter-strong Eagles tough on the perimeter, making it difficult for Northwestern to both get shots off and feed the ball inside.

Mollie Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood) finished 5-8, draining four shots from downtown to lead all scorers with 17 points, 11 of which came in the second half. Madson followed with four treys of her own, wrapping up the night with 14 points. Jessica Fife (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) battled all night in the paint, grabbing nine rebounds to go with five blocked shots.

Augsburg (4-3) received 15 points from Brittany Zins and 10 rebounds from Serenae Levine.

The loss drops Northwestern to 3-6 on the season as the Eagles head into Christmas break. NWC will come back after the holiday to practice for a couple days before flying west to California where the Purple and Gold will play in a tournament hosted by California Lutheran, just minutes from the Pacific Ocean in Thousand Oaks. Northwestern will face Cal Lutheran on December 30 before tipping off against Albion College (Mich.) on the 31st.