Minnesota Scene: Augustana to play No. 1-ranked team for Division II basketball title

No. 2-ranked Augustana (S.D.) will play No. 1 Lincoln Memorial at 2 p.m. Saturday (Ch. 4) in the NCAA Division II men's basketball championship game in Frisco, Texas.

It will be the first meeting of the two top-ranked teams in the title game since 1975.

The Vikings (33-2) beat Western Oregon 74-55 on Thursday in the semifinals. Daniel Jansen, coming off the bench because of a foot injury, scored 13 points and helped Augustana take a 34-19 halftime lead.

The Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters (34-2), of Harrogate, Tenn., edged West Liberty 103-102 in a semifinal game behind Gerel Simmons' 35 points and seven assists.

The Gophers defeated Purdue 5-0 on Friday in their Big Ten softball opener in West Lafayette, Ind., on Sara Groenewegen's four-hitter with 13 strikeouts.

Minnesota scored three runs in the fifth inning on five hits, including RBI singles by Taylor LeMay, Maddie Houlihan and Groenewegen. The junior pitcher drove in another run with a double in the seventh followed by Sam Macken's RBI single.

• The Gophers baseball team lost 5-4 to No. 23 Missouri State (19-2) after taking a 3-0 lead. Connor Schaefbauer, who was 3-for-4, drove in the first run with a triple and Terrin Vavra and Matt Fiedler had run-scoring doubles for Minnesota (10-9) in Springfield, Mo.

• Sophomore Madeline Strandemo of the Gophers took third place in the 3K steeplechase in 10:21.84 — the sixth-best time in program history — at the Raleigh (N.C.) Relays.

• Four Gophers were named to the All-USCHO second team in women's hockey: forwards Hannah Brandt and Dani Cameranesi, defenseman Lee Stecklein and goalie Amanda Leveille. Minnesota forward Sarah Potomak was named the website's rookie of the year.

• Two former Augsburg wrestlers, Scott Whirley (Class of 1982) and Henry Gerten (1998) were recently inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame.

• Denison University's Kate Wright, a senior from Apple Valley, swam on the Ohio school's second-place 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays at the recent NCAA Division III swimming and diving championships.

• Minnesota State Moorhead women's basketball assistant coach Vanessa Keeler-Johnson was selected one of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Under 30 honorees.