by Wayne Nelson
Herald Staff Writers
GREELEY, Colo. -- With their first conference title since 1994 secured, the Sioux could have suffered a letdown in their game against No. 18-ranked Northern Colorado.
After all, the postseason is only two weeks away and the No. 2-ranked Sioux are expected to be at home for the North Central Region tournament.
But the Sioux weren't on any mellow Rocky Mountain high. They played as if another national championship was on the line in their dominating 93-77 North Central Conference women's basketball win over the Bears here Saturday night.
"We wanted to put fear into their eyes," UND's Tiffany Pudenz said. "We could see them in the tournament and we didn't want them thinking they could beat us."
Northern Colorado certainly was awestruck in UND's overwhelming first half. The Sioux fast-break offense ran past, over and through the Bears, and UND also dominated the boards (36-13) in taking a 54-27 lead at the break.
"Have you seen them play any better than that?" Asked Northern Colorado coach Greg Bruce. "I told (Sioux coach) Gene (Roebuck) coming off the court at halftime that their performance was unbelievable. They were running the floor, hitting the boards and hitting their 3-pointers.
"If they can play like that, there is no team in the Division II that can beat them."
UND shot 51 percent from the field in the first half, making 7 of 17 3-pointers. For the game, the Sioux were 9 of 23 (39 percent) from behind the line, a considerably better showing than their past few games.
"Coach said we had to relax and the shots would fall," said Pudenz, who was 3 of 5 on 3-pointers in finishing with 17 points. "We relaxed and forgot about the last few games."
Again, Sioux center Jenny Crouse was dominating inside, scoring 20 points, 12 rebounds and blocking four shots. The 6-foot-3 junior has been UND's leading scorer in six of its last eight games.
Crouse's defense was just as impressive. She was credited with four blocked shots, although that statistic was conservative. "We tried to make it difficult for them," Crouse said. "We took it to them. We limited their 3-point shooting and tried to make them take difficult shots."
That showed in Northern Colorado's shooting. The Bears shot 29 percent in the first half and 35 percent for the game.
Mandi Arndtson, behind five offensive rebounds, scored 17 points, while Jaime Pudenz, making three of six 3-pointers, added 15.
On Friday night, UND wrapped up the NCC title with a blowout win at Nebraska-Omaha. Roebuck said he didn't want any letdowns this close to the postseason.
"I knew they'd be emotional here," Roebuck said. "They beat the Bison (Friday night) and it was seniors night, too. Those two things gave them a big lift.
"They came at us right away, but we went right back at them. Our team responded."
Both teams ran the break early, with UND running faster in a 9-2 start. "They got kind of tired," Tiffany Pudenz said. "They only used seven players (against NDSU) and they had to play a lot of minutes because the game was close. We were fresh."
Missy McVoy led the Bears with 20 points while Jennifer Altman and Marianne Clark added 18 each. The only highlight for Northern Colorado was its 12-2 run to open the second half.
"I was proud of our kids in the second half," Bruce said. "We battled them."