Augustana College (28-7) won more games in a season than any other Viking team in school history and made its first national semifinal appearance. Dowling College (30-3) brought the season to a close for the Vikings with a 76-54 win on Wednesday in a semifinal game. Dowling will advance to the NCAA II national title game on Friday at 7 p.m. CDT at San Antonio, Texas.
The spotlight shown on Dowling's All-American Danielle Wilson who scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Golden Lions outrebounded the Vikings 47-29 and grabbed 12 offensive boards, turning those into 17-second chance points. Connie Simmons scored 16 second-half points and finished with a game-high 24.
Wilson, a transfer from Baylor, scored 16 of her points in the lane. The Vikings were outscored 20-6 in the lane in the first half.
The Golden Lions made 8-of-13 three-point attempts for 62 percent compared to the Vikings who were 9-of-30 from long distance.
Augustana was led by Faith Tinklenberg, who tied a career high with 21 points and four three-pointers. She was the only Viking to score in double figures.
Alex Feeney, Augustana's leading scorer on the season managed just four points but finished her career with 1,723 points for fourth on the school's all-time list.
Tinklenberg, Feeney, Cami Koehn, and Lydia Nelson played their final game for Augie.
Augustana pulled to within six points late in the first half but a run by Dowling, including a three-pointer with four seconds left gave the New York school a 12-point lead entering intermission at 39-27.
Dowling pushed the lead to 52-32 in the first six minutes of the second half.
The Vikings trimmed it to 15 points on a Feeney layup. Koehn hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 14 points at 60-46, with six minutes 10 seconds remaining.
Feeney owns the career record with 127 starts, and Tinklenberg topped the list of career games played with 129 appearances and finished just six points shy of 1,000 career points.
Nelson moved into the top 30 in Augustana's scoring list with 1,035 career points.
DOWLING (30-3): Seja Gamble 1-2 0-2 2, Julia Koppl 2-5 0-0 6, Connie Simmons 9-14 4-11 24, Christine Verrelle 1-5 2-2 4, Danielle Wilson 7-12 4-6 18, Nicole Caggiano 5-7 0-0 13, Kamile Ejerta 1-1 0-0 2, Cache' Gamble 0-0 1-2 1, Ashley Gyscek 0-0 0-0 0, Kristen McMahon 0-0 0-0 0, Krstina Surlan 0-0 1-2 1, Rekik Worku 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 28-49 12-25 76.
AUGUSTANA (28-7): Shaunteva Ashley 1-7 4-6 6, Alex Feeney 2-14 0-0 4, Lydia Nelson 0-8 0-0 0, Emily Schulte 2-6 0-0 5, Faith Tinklenberg 8-17 1-1 21, Emily Bose 0-0 2-2 2, Rhianna Gullickson 1-2 0-0 3, Nicole Kerkhoff 0-0 0-0 0, Cami Koehn 3-7 0-0 9, Riley Nordgaard, 1-4 2-2 4, Andrea Whitney 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-67 9-11 54.
Halftime score - Dowling 39-27. 3-point field goals - Dowling 8-13 (Koppl 2-3, Simmons 2-4, Verrelle 0-1, Caggiano 3-4, Worku 1-1); Augustana 9-30 (Ashley 0-4, Feeney 0-3, Nelson 0-1, Schulte 1-4, Tinklenberg 4-8, Gullickson 1-1, Koehn 3-6, Nordgaard 0-2, Whitney 0-1). Total fouls - Dowling 13; Augustana 18. Rebounds - Dowling 47 (Verrelle 10, Wilson 10); Augustana 29 (Feeney 7). Turnovers - Dowling 21; Augustana 12. Assists - Dowling 17 (Simmons 6); Augustana 11 (Ashley 3, Schulte 3). Steals - Dowling 6 (Wilson 2); Augustan 11 (Tinklenberg 4). Blocked shots - Dowling 9 (Wilson 6); Augustana 6 (Nelson 2, Bose 2).
NCAA DII Women's Elite
Wednesday's Games in San Antonio, Texas
Semifinals
Dowling (N.Y.) College 76, Augustana (SD) College 54
Ashland (Ohio) College 76, Western Washington 54
Championship Game
Friday
Dowling (N.Y.) College (30-3) vs. Ashland (Ohio) College (36-1), 7 p.m.