MINNEAPOLIS: Augsburg rallied from a five-point deficit in the third quarter and ran away, dealing the UW-Superior women's basketball team its first loss of the season, 79-63, Monday at Si Melby Hall.
 
The Auggies limited UWS to 29 points in the second half and exploded for 23 of their own in the final quarter to improve to 3-0 on the year. 
 
Tight for much of the game, it featured 10 lead changes and seven ties. Neither team held a lead larger than seven points until late, when Augsburg secured the victory.
 
Hannah Norlin (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield), named UMAC Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career earlier in the day, had another strong game for the Yellowjackets. The senior forward scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
 
Junior Eva Reinertsen (Duluth, Minn./Homeschooled) paced the 'Jackets with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including going 3-of-6 from distance.
 
Superior took its first lead of the game in the second quarter when Emily Carpenter (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter) found Marissa Ruiz (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) for a deep, straightaway 3-pointer for 26-24 edge with 6:07 remaining before halftime. The pair teamed up again over a minute later with Carpenter finding Ruiz for another trey and a 29-24 advantage. The lead grew to seven on two Ellie Leadstrom (Superior, Wis./Superior) free throws with less than four minutes left, but Augsburg went on a 9-2 run retake the lead briefly at 34-33 on a Tamira McLemore layup with 1:13 left before the break. 
 
The 'Jackets, though, got a jumper from Katie White (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes), again assisted by Carpenter, to take a 35-34 lead into the locker room.
 
Kaly Kostrova (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) made a pair of foul shots at the 6:22 mark in the third quarter to give UWS what was its largest lead the rest of the night at 44-39. The Auggies then scored nine consecutive, putting the 'Jackets on their heels. 
 
Abby Jordan gave Augsburg the lead for good with two free throws and Selena Lor extended it with a layup heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Leadstrom cut it to a 56-55 game with nine minutes left, but Augsburg engineered an 18-2 run to put the game out of reach. McLemore had nine points in the spurt, including a three-point play after a steal, that made it 62-57 at the 6:17 mark.
 
The Yellowjackets shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) while the Aggies were 40 percent (26-of-65). Augsburg benefitted from 36 points from a season-high 25 UWS turnovers.
 
Carpenter finished with 11 of her team's 17 assists, seven rebounds, five points, and three steals.
 
McLemore scored a game-best 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting for the Auggies.
 
UWS (2-1) travels to face Division II Bemidji State next Monday at 6 p.m.