March 22, 2001
ROCHESTER, MN — The UND women’s basketball team opened up a 24-point halftime lead over Shippensburg in the NCAA semifinals on Saturday, but the Sioux had to hang on in the second half to defeat the Lady Raiders, 76-67, and advance to the NCAA Division II championship game for the fourth time in the last five years.
UND will play Cal Poly Pomona (26-3) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the championship game. The Broncos defeated Columbus State, 80-72, on Saturday to advance.
Against Shippensburg, the Sioux led 50-26 at halftime, but the Lady Raiders outscored UND 19-2 in the first 8:26 of the second half to pull within seven points (52-45). Shippensburg’s Jessie Gordon scored eight of her game-high 24 points during the run.
When UND’s Becky Moen (So., Morris, Minn.)scored on a driving layup with 11:34 left in the game, it broke a 6:44 UND scoring drought.
“I got the lane and took it, and it rolled in just barely,” Moen said. “Shippensburg kept going and took us a while to get things going in the second half. I’m glad the time ran out.”
Shippensburg got within six points twice, the latest with 7:01 to play (63-57).
UND responded with seven straight points on a three-pointer by Mandy Arndtson (Sr., Austin, Minn.), two free throws by Theresa LeCuyer (Sr., Anoka, Minn.) and two free throws by Arndtson, making it 70-57 with 4:47 left.
Shippensburg scored the next six points to make it 70-63 with 3:20 to play, but could not get any closer.
“I give Shippensburg credit because they could’ve packed it in at halftime,” said UND head coach Gene Roebuck. “They made a great game of it, and it went down to the wire.”
UND shot 63.3 percent from the field (19-of-30) in the first half, but only managed to shoot 23.5 percent (8-of-34) in the second half. The Sioux ended up with a 42.2 field goal percentage for the game, while Shippensburg ended with a 39.7 percent field goal percentage.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said UND guard Jenny Hoffner (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.). “We didn’t come out with the same intensity in the second half as we did in the first. We really didn’t attack the way we should have. Instead of rolling over we did pull together and realized that this was our game.”
Arndtson scored 18 points to lead UND, and Boll and Moen each added 15 points. LeCuyer added 11 points. LeCuyer and Arndtson each had 10 rebounds. UND had a slight rebounding edge, 43-41.
Shippensburg ended its season with a 28-5 record.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS #7 North Dakota vs #21 Shippensburg (PA) 3-22-01 6 p.m. at Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minn. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: #7 North Dakota 29-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 LeCuyer, Theresa.... * 3-11 0-2 5-8 3 7 10 3 11 3 3 1 0 29 10 Jones, Tonia........ * 3-6 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 1 1 0 0 25 24 Hoffner, Jenny...... * 3-7 3-7 0-0 1 1 2 2 9 3 2 0 4 33 43 Arndtson, Mandy..... * 6-18 1-6 5-6 5 5 10 2 18 4 2 1 1 37 44 Boll, Jenny......... * 6-11 0-0 3-8 3 6 9 4 15 1 9 1 2 32 21 Leighton, Marisa.... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 5 22 Moen, Becky......... 5-9 2-3 3-4 1 2 3 4 15 2 2 0 4 24 23 Pick, Megan......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 55 Palbicki, Janel..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 10 TEAM................ 1 1 2 Totals.............. 27-64 6-18 16-27 14 29 43 20 76 15 21 3 11 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-30 .633 2nd Half: 8-34 .235 Game: .422 DEADBALL 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-7 .714 2nd Half: 1-11 .091 Game: .333 REBOUNDS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-12 .583 2nd Half: 9-15 .600 Game: .593 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: #21 Shippensburg (PA) 28-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 15 Mikesic, Vickie..... * 4-11 1-2 2-2 1 3 4 4 11 3 8 0 3 35 21 Bray, Katie......... * 1-2 1-2 2-2 0 4 4 1 5 0 3 1 1 40 23 Pieczynski, Janette. * 2-5 0-1 5-7 1 2 3 5 9 3 4 0 1 30 33 Cline, Christa...... * 4-13 0-2 2-4 0 8 8 4 10 4 4 1 0 36 35 Gordon, Jessie...... * 9-17 0-0 6-8 1 8 9 3 24 0 0 0 0 26 14 Fredley, Jamie...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 2 0 0 13 22 Swingler, Emily..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 24 Corrie, Erin........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 32 Rothery, Stephanie.. 2-8 0-0 2-2 4 3 7 4 6 1 1 0 0 18 TEAM................ 2 3 5 Totals.............. 23-58 2-8 19-25 9 32 41 23 67 13 23 2 6 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 .370 2nd Half: 13-31 .419 Game: .397 DEADBALL 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 .250 2nd Half: 1-4 .250 Game: .250 REBOUNDS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 .714 2nd Half: 14-18 .778 Game: .760 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: D. Kramer, J. Tentor, M. Duncan Technical fouls: #7 North Dakota-None. #21 Shippensburg (PA)-Cline, Christa. Attendance: 1775 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total #7 North Dakota............... 50 26 - 76 #21 Shippensburg (PA)......... 26 41 - 67 NCAA Division II Women's Elite 8 Semifinal Game One ... UND advances to NCAA Division II Championship game for the fourth time in five years ...