by Jeff Kolpack
The Forum
Box Score
The nets came down. And so did North Dakota State's NCAA Division II women's basketball dominance.
Getting key plays down the stretch, something that the University of North Dakota hasn't done in this series lately, the Sioux beat the four-time defending champs 73-66 in the North Central Regional finale before 4,591 fans at the Bison Sports Arena. It sends the Elite Eight tournament, which starts a week from Wednesday in Grand Forks, N.D.
NDSU had two monumental streaks snapped: a 45-game run that is eighth longest in college basketball history, men's or women's, and a 58-game home streak. The Sioux did it by overcoming a 10-point deficit with 6:07 left, holding the Bison scoreless in the last 3:52.
"I've never had a chance to beat them," said Sioux junior guard Tiffany Pudenz, who was voted MVP of the tournament. "The school rivalry ... it's just nice to win it."
Pudenz practically won it by herself. She scored a career-high 32 points. Down the stretch, however, all the Sioux gave a helping hand.
Kelli Britz's 3-point field goal with 3:10 left put the Sioux in front at 67-66. Neither team scored until Jenny Crouse tallied on a putback with 59 seconds remaining.
"We got a 10-point lead and we seemed to let up," said Bison coach Amy Ruley. "We were jogging back on defense and we didn't do what we needed to do to challenge them."
A Bison turnover 15 seconds later put control firmly with the Sioux. Jaime Pudenz's two free throws with 20 seconds left, which gave UND a 71-66 lead, started a wild Sioux celebration.
It ended with the Sioux players standing on their chairs and saluting their fans.
"Our fans threw us a pep fest today in the hotel and we wanted to say thank you," Tiffany Pudenz said.
The Sioux can thank her for keeping them in the game. She had 21 points by halftime, a half in which the Bison threatened to expand leads into double digits.
"We gave her six feet and she was scoring," Ruley said. "Maybe it was the fear of dribble penetration.
Pudenz had a bucket and a 3-pointer in UND's 13-2 run to take the lead. Britz had six of her 11 points.
"We just tried to keep cool the whole game and relax," Britz said.
The Sioux were cool in two departments the Bison usually thrive: free throws and rebounding. Kami Winger led a 45-34 UND advantage on the boards and the Sioux were 11 of 12 from the line, compared to NDSU's 6 of 7.
"I think our team got smarter defensively throughout the year," said UND coach Gene Roebuck.
The Sioux will take a 25-4 record to the national tournament. The Bison ended 28-1. They had beaten the Sioux seven straight times before Sunday.
"I don't know if we got rattled or what," Ruley said.
| UND (73) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| J. Pudenz | 2-13 | 2-2 | 6 |
| T. Pudenz | 12-21 | 5-6 | 32 |
| Derck | 1-1 | 2-2 | 4 |
| Winger | 4-9 | 0-0 | 8 |
| Britz | 4-8 | 0-0 | 11 |
| Kabanuk | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Richards | 1-6 | 2-2 | 4 |
| Crouse | 3-7 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Totals | 28-66 | 11-12 | 73 |
| NDSU (66) | |||
| Fischer | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Birch | 4-15 | 0-0 | 8 |
| Otto | 5-9 | 0-1 | 11 |
| Stefonowicz | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Morlock | 4-10 | 1-1 | 9 |
| Lang | 6-11 | 0-0 | 15 |
| Kelly | 8-19 | 5-5 | 21 |
| Ornell | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Hayden | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 28-67 | 6-7 | 66 |
Halftime: UND 35, NDSU 32.
Total foals: UND 12, NDSU 13.
Total rebounds: UND 45 (Winger 8), NDSU 34 (Kelly 7).
3-point FG: UND 6-14 (J. Pudenz 0-3, T. Pudenz 3-5, Britz 3-5, Richards 0-1), NDSU 4-10 (Birch 0-2, Otto 1-1, Lang 3-7).
Turnovers: UND 15 (T. Pudenz 4), NDSU 15 (Otto 5).
Assists: UND 11 (J. Pudenz 5), NDSU 19 (Birch 6).
Attendance: 4,591.