Feb. 23, 2002
Grand Forks, ND – The Fighting Sioux women's basketball team won its second consecutive North Central Conference championship on Saturday night when North Dakota defeated South Dakota State, 88-76, in front of 4,874 fans at Hyslop Sports Center. It was the fourth NCC title for UND in the last five years and its eighth crown since 1990. North Dakota finishes the regular season with a 22-4 overall record, 14-4 in league play. South Dakota State wrapped up its regular season with a 22-7 record, 12-6 in the NCC.
The Sioux will now receive a bye in Tuesday's first-round of the NCC Wells Fargo Finals and then host the final four next Friday and Saturday.
Junior Jenny Boll led the way on Saturday night, hitting 13 of 17 shots from the field to finish with a career-high 29 points despite being in foul trouble most of the night. Junior Becky Moen finished with 24 points in 39 minutes of action. Moen finished the 18-game NCC schedule with 419 points, four shy of South Dakota State's Laurie Kruse's record of 423 she set back in 1991.
Sophomore Marisa Leighton was the final double-figure scorer for the Sioux, finishing with 14 points.
South Dakota State held the lead for just three and a half minutes of the game as the Soiux used a 14-4 run midway through the first half to grab the lead for good. Down by three, 14-11, with 14:09 to play, Boll scored six and Moen five as North Dakota went on its run that gave it its largest lead of the first half, seven points, 25-18.
The Jackrabbits came back to tie the score twice late in the first half, but UND didn't give up the lead and went to the locker room up 39-34.
North Dakota scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 46-34 lead with 18:17 to play. South Dakota State got the lead to within seven, 48-41, with 15:02 to remaining, but the Sioux scored 11 of the next 13 points to take control of the game, going up 59-43 with 11:35 to play. The Jacks wouldn't get within single figures the rest of the way.
North Dakota hit 28 of 60 shots for the game, 46.7 percent. South Dakota State made 27 of 56, 48.2 percent.
The Sioux won the rebounding battle over the league's best in that category. SDSU came into the game outrebounding its opponents by nearly 11 boards per game, but UND held a 37-33 advantage, giving up just nine offensive rebounds.
Sophomore Mary Perrizo added eight points and four assists for the Sioux, while freshman Chelsea Hausauer had seven points and a career-high and team-high nine rebounds, six of those coming on the offensive end. Junior Janel Palbicki came off the bench to fill in for the foul-plagued Boll and finished with four points and four rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
Melissa Pater led South Dakota State with 23 points, while Brenda Davis finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
North Dakota will now have Tuesday off while the second through the seventh seeds meet on Tuesday. North Dakota will host the NCC Wells Fargo Finals next Friday and Saturday, with semifinal games on Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., with Saturday's championship game set for 6 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
South Dakota State vs North Dakota
2/23/02 6 p.m. at Grand Forks, N.D. - Hyslop Sports Center
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VISITORS: South Dakota State 22-7, 12-6 NCC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 Stacie Cizek........ * 4-5 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 9 0 2 0 1 20
14 Brenda Davis........ * 8-15 2-6 1-2 4 5 9 5 19 3 2 1 4 34
20 Shari Johnson....... * 2-4 0-2 2-4 0 0 0 3 6 5 3 0 1 32
34 Melissa Pater....... * 7-11 1-1 8-9 1 6 7 5 23 0 1 0 0 24
42 Shannon Schlagel.... * 3-8 0-1 1-4 1 5 6 3 7 1 5 1 0 32
12 Stephanie Bolden.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 4
24 Megan Otte.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 9
30 Brooke Dickmeyer.... 1-4 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 0 0 18
50 Karly Hegge......... 0-3 0-0 2-4 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 13
52 Sarita DeBoer....... 2-6 0-0 3-4 0 3 3 5 7 1 1 0 0 14
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 27-56 5-15 17-27 9 24 33 25 76 13 19 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8% 2nd Half: 16-32 50.0% Game: 48.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-13 69.2% 2nd Half: 8-14 57.1% Game: 63.0% 5
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HOME TEAM: North Dakota 22-4, 14-4 NCC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Mary Perrizo........ * 2-8 1-1 3-4 2 1 3 2 8 4 2 0 0 30
15 Chelsea Hausauer.... * 3-5 1-1 0-0 6 3 9 3 7 0 2 0 1 33
21 Marisa Leighton..... * 2-8 0-0 10-12 2 4 6 4 14 0 1 1 1 34
22 Becky Moen.......... * 6-17 3-11 9-11 0 2 2 1 24 2 2 0 3 39
44 Jenny Boll.......... * 13-17 0-0 3-3 0 4 4 5 29 1 2 1 1 26
23 Megan Pick.......... 0-1 0-0 2-4 0 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 3 14
25 Trish Fleming....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
33 Gina Britz.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
55 Janel Palbicki...... 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 5 4 0 4 1 1 14
TEAM................ 6 6
Totals.............. 28-60 5-13 27-34 12 25 37 21 88 11 14 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-36 41.7% 2nd Half: 13-24 54.2% Game: 46.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 38.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 20-25 80.0% Game: 79.4% 3
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Officials: Tom Rasmussen, Vicki Barron, Jon McLean
Technical fouls: South Dakota State-None. North Dakota-None.
Attendance: 4874
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
South Dakota State............ 34 42 - 76
North Dakota.................. 39 49 - 88
North Central Conference game
With the victory North Dakota claims sole possession of the NCC championship.
It is the Sioux's second consecutive title and fourth in the last five years.
UND will host the NCC Wells Fargo Finals next weekend.