Feb. 24, 2001
BROOKINGS, S.D. — UND’s Jenny Boll (So., Crookston, Minn.) scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds and Sioux forward Theresa LeCuyer (Sr., Anoka, Minn.) had 18 points and six assists to lead North Dakota to an 85-70 win over host South Dakota State in North Central Conference women’s basketball on Saturday.
The win enabled fifth-ranked UND to win its sixth outright NCC championship (seventh overall). UND has now won three conference titles in the past four years. The Sioux finished the regular season with a 23-3 overall record and 15-3 NCC mark.
By winning the league title, UND will have a bye in the first round of the conference’s Wells Fargo Finals. The next six teams in the NCC standings will play on Tuesday, with the three winners advancing to the semifinals at the Hyslop Sports Center on Friday.
UND will play on Friday at a time to be determined against the winner of Tuesday’s game between St. Cloud State and South Dakota State.
After losing to Augustana (94-77) in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Friday, UND came out on Saturday against South Dakota State with a much stronger effort and controlled the game throughout.
The Sioux jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the first 5:50, with forward Mandy Arndtson (Sr., Austin, Minn.) scoring six of UND’s points during that stretch.
After SDSU cut the deficit to seven points (16-9), UND went on a 10-4 run and led 26-13 with 9:22 to play in the first half.
The Jackrabbits could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the half, and UND led 41-27 at halftime.
The Sioux still led by 14 points (54-40) with 12:45 to play in the game but then went on an 11-2 run to make the score 65-42 with 9:23 left.
The outcome was never really in doubt after that, although South Dakota State did trim UND’s lead to 15 points (85-70) by game’s end.
The Sioux had a good shooting night, making 51.7 percent of their field goal attempts (30-of-58), while SDSU shot just 38.5 percent from the field (25-of-65). UND made 86.4 percent (19-of-22) of its free throw attempts, while SDSU converted just 69.2 percent (18-of-26) from the foul line.
South Dakota State outrebounded the Sioux, 38-37. The Jacks’ Angie Loken had 11 rebounds to tie Boll for game honors in that category.
SDSU’s Sarah Rippke had 17 points and teammate Sherri Brende had 16 points to lead the Jacks.
UND guard Jenny Hoffner (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) scored 14 points and made four three-pointers, while Tonia Jones (Sr., Thompson, N.D.) added 11 points for the Sioux.
Arndtson and center Janel Palbicki (So., Bloomington, Minn.) each scored eight points for North Dakota, and forward Becky Moen (So., Morris, Minn.) had seven points.