MANKATO, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team fell short against unbeaten Augustana, 80-55, Saturday afternoon.

Augustana (7-0, 3-0 NSIC ), who was receiving votes in this weeks WBCA Coaches Poll, took advantage of some early turnovers by Minnesota State (1-6, 0-2 NSIC) leading to an 11-0 run to open the contest. Claire Jordan connected with Claire Ziegler for a layup, 11-2, at the 6:00 mark. The Vikings responded to push their lead into double-digits, 18-6, as Shelby Selland drained a triple with 3:45 on the clock. Minnesota State trailed after the opening frame, 27-13.

Neither team was able to find the bottom of the net over the first two minutes of the second frame. Kirstin Klitzke came off the bench and provided spark for the Mavericks delivering a layup, 27-15, at the 7:20 mark. Minnesota State trailed at the end of the first half, 40-24.

Taylor Drost paced the Mavericks at the intermission with a team-best nine points while Logan Anderson contributed six points and four rebounds. The Vikings held the edge in both rebounds (22-20) and assists (10-5).

Augustana continued to roll on offense into the third quarter hitting a 10 foot jump shot and a three in the first 1:30 of the frame. Monica Muth tried to jump start the Mavericks with a three point play after a hard foul on a layup, 47-28, at the 8:17 mark. Later in the stanza, Minnesota State put together a 5-0 run after a Klitzke triple and Ziegler layup to make the score 54-33. The Vikings led after three quarters of play, 64-35.

Augustana began the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run to increase its lead to 72-37 with 7:48 remaining. Minnesota State would not go away putting together an 8-2 run of its own with five points from Drost to make the score 74-45 with 4:08 to play. However, the Mavericks went on to drop their second straight game, 80-55.

As a team, Augustana held the advantage in rebounds (43-41) and assists (18-7). The Mavericks shot 28.1% from the field in comparison to the Vikings 48.6%.

Drost set the standard for Minnesota State with a team-high 14 points to go along with four rebounds. Klitzke also reached double figures with 10 points and one steal. Muth rounded out the top Maverick performers with nine points and eight rebounds.

Minnesota State returns to action on Dec. 8 at Winona State. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.