Waukesha, Wis. – The Carroll University women's basketball team fell in the final seconds to Augustana on Saturday in the final game of the regular season. Elizabeth Behrndt added another double-double to her stat sheet, leading with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Katie Rohner led with five assists to go along with 14 points, and Brooke Foster nabbed a career-high four steals with 10 points.
 
The Pioneers'  (6-5, 6-5 CCIW) six regular-season conference wins is the most since rejoining the CCIW in 2015-16. The Pios grabbed a season-high 18 steals, with four from Foster and four more from Lauren Soyke (3 PTS, 4 STL). Twenty Pioneer points came off 23 Viking turnovers. The Pios, a normally strong rebound defense team, allowed 40 rebounds to their 22. Augie ripped down 15 offensive rebounds as well.
 
The women started the scoring with a Kayla Stefka (10 PTS, 3 STL, 2 AST) layup, but soon relinquished the lead to the Vikings, finding themselves down 4-11 with 5:51 remaining in the quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers from Katie Evans (11 PTS, 3-6 3PM) and Foster cut the lead to two, and Behrndt tied the game with a second-chance layup with 3:37 remaining. Augie was up two with 24 ticks of the clock remaining, but Katie Rohner danced her way into the paint, making the layup, and drew the foul for a three-point play. The Pios led by one after the first 10 minutes. Behrndt scored twice to bring the lead up to five in the second quarter, but back to back Viking three-pointers gave them the lead.   After Behrndt fought her way into the paint to take back the Pio lead, Augustana ended the quarter on a 10-2 run. The women shot just 2-6 from the free-throw line in the second.
 
Augustana held a steady lead in the beginning of the second half before Stefka drew an and-one to cut the lead to four with 4:15 left in the third. Carroll was able to cut the lead to one with help from three-point baskets from Evans and Soyke. Augustana knocked in a second chance three-ball to take a four-point lead into the final quarter. Rohner scored seven of the Pioneers' next nine points to even the score at 56 with 7:08 remaining in the game. Rohner stayed hot, scoring four more points alongside an Evans three-pointer to take a three-point lead with 4:00 to play. Augustana took back the lead with 14 seconds remaining, forcing a Carroll time out. The Pioneers had a play drawn up out of the timeout, but a turnover and Viking steal gave Augustana another possession to advance their lead to three. Evans was fouled on a three-point jump shot, but only converted the first two in the final seconds. Augustana grabbed the game-sealing rebound with .2 remaining.
 
The Pioneer women will play Thursday in the CCIW Conference Tournament. The Pios, now a five seed, will travel to Illinois Wesleyan for a 7 PM showdown in Bloomington.