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Sadie Stotesbery converted a three-point play with 15 seconds left to play to break a 60-60 tie and hit a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to help lead Northern State to a 67-62 win over Augustana Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament down at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

After Stotesbery's three-point play, Augustana's Rhianna Gullickson put in a layup to cut the NSU lead to 63-62. Kara Hofschild was then fouled and hit a pair at the line to push the Northern advantage back up to three points. Sydney Rome missed a game-tying three with two seconds left and Stotesbery grabbed the rebound and sealed the victory for the Wolves.

It was a tale of two halves in the contest as Northern blew a 16-point halftime advantage in the second half. The Wolves (23-5) shot 56 percent (14-for-25) in the first half while stifling the Vikings (16-12) defensively, holding Augie to just 29 percent from the floor (9-for-31) in the opening half. The second half was a different story as the Wolves made just five field goals and shot 20.8 percent from the field. Augustana shot 50 percent (15-for-30) in the second. For the game, NSU ended up shooting 38.8 percent from the floor and went just 2-for-8 (25 percent) from three-point range. AC shot 39.3 percent and hit 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from deep.

The Wolves led by as many as 18 in the game, 34-16 with 5:17 to go in the first half and carried a 39-23 lead into the break. Northern led 48-33 with 12:53 to go in the game and appeared to be well in control before the Vikings went on a 19-6 run and cut the Northern advantage down to 54-52 with 6:27 left. NSU did not trail once in Saturday's contest as Augustana could just tie the game on five occasions.

Northern held a 40-31 advantage in rebounding in the game and also had a 30-26 edge in points in the paint. The Vikings' bench held a big 19-8 advantage in points off the bench and also scored 17 points off of 14 NSU turnovers. The Wolves got nine points off of 15 AC miscues.

Rachel Krogman recorded her 13th double-double of the season as she had a big-time 21-point, 13-rebound effort in the win. Krogman also found an open Stotesbery for the game-clinching bucket. Stotesbery finished the game with 17 points and eight rebounds and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Alison Kusler scored 11 of her 12 points in the first half for the Wolves.

Another big key in the win for Northern came at the free-throw line as the Wolves hit 27-for-30 from the line which is a season-best 90 percent clip. Augustana went 7-of-12 from the line (58.3 percent).

NSU advances to face the winner of Minnesota State and U-Mary in the semifinals of the NSIC Tournament played Monday at noon. MSU and Mary play Sunday at noon down in Sioux Falls. The Wolves split the season series with U-Mary with both teams winning on their home court. NSU defeated MSU 79-63 in January in Aberdeen.