ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Elmhurst women's basketball team dropped a critical CCIW road game after falling 93-86 at Augustana College.
 
The loss dropped Elmhurst to 12-10 overall and 8-5 in the CCIW while Augustana upped its overall record to 13-9. More importantly, the Vikings moved to within two games of Elmhurst in the CCIW standings and earned the head-to-head tiebreaker against Elmhurst by virtue of a season sweep.
 
Elmhurst and Augustana traded buckets and leads for the first quarter. The Vikings built a six-point cushion four minutes in to the contest, but Elmhurst turned the tables, going in front 23-17 after back-to-back three-pointers from Georgia Garvie. Augustana cut Elmhurst's lead down to three points (27-24) at the end of the first quarter.
 
Augustana heated up at the start of the second quarter, quickly surging back in front and opening up a 42-36 lead with 3:42 left in the half. The Bluejays pulled to within two points after a jumper from Garvie with 1:12 left, but Augustana carried a 47-43 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Augustana never relinquished its lead in the second half. The Vikings built a nine-point cushion with 3:49 left in the third and took a 70-61 lead into the fourth quarter. The Vikings extended their lead to 13 points early in the fourth before Elmhurst used a 10-3 run to pull to within six points (77-71) with five minutes left on the clock. Elmhurst managed to trim the lead down to five points with three minutes remaining, but five straight points from Augustana gave the Vikings a 10-point cushion with two minute left. Elmhurst made one last run, pulling to within five points with 48 seconds left, but Augustana hit all six of its free throws down the stretch to come away with the seven-point win.
 
Mikaela Eppard led Elmhurst and all scorers with a game-high 31 points. Eppard shot 12-of-21 from the floor and pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss. Kaela Jones added 13 points while Garvie came off the bench to score 13. Lisa Logan added 12 points for the Bluejays.
 
The tightly-called contest featured 47 combined fouls and 59 free throw attempts. The Bluejays shot 47.8 percent (33-of-69) from the field, but just 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from three-point distance. Augustana finished the game shooting 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field and were a solid 84.2 percent (32-of-38) from the foul line.
 
Victoria Allen paced Augustana in the win with 28 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the floor and 13-of-15 from the foul line. Scooter Lopez added 22 points while Sadie Roberts scored 18. Alexis Jones added a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Elmhurst hosts Carthage College on Saturday, February 10.