March 8, 2002
Grand Junction, CO – The Southwest State Mustangs used a suffocating defense that held the North Dakota women’s basketball team to 32.7 percent shooting and moved into the championship game of the North Central Regional with a 66-57 victory over the Sioux in a region semifinal game on Friday night. SSU will face South Dakota State, a 76-63 winner over top seed Mesa State, for the right to represent the region at the Elite Eight in Rochester, MN.
The loss snapped North Dakota’s winning streak at eight games and marked the first time in seven seasons that the Sioux didn’t advance to at least the region championship game. The 57 points was a season low for UND.
North Dakota ended the season with a record of 24-5. Southwest State improved to 24-7.
UND was led by junior Becky Moen, who finished with 21 points while playing 40 minutes. Junior Jenny Boll added 20 points and 10 rebounds, her ninth double-double of the season. No other UND player had more than four points.
The Sioux struggled from the start, hitting just seven field goals in the first half. They had two leads – 3-2 and 7-5 – but both were short-lived. After a Moen layup at the 16:01 mark gave North Dakota a 7-5 lead, SSU’s Michelle Bruns tied the game at 7-7. The Mustangs’ Regan French hit a free throw at the 15:13 mark to put Southwest State up by one, 8-7, and SSU would hold the lead the rest of the first half.
The SSU lead grew as large as eight points on two different occasions in the first half before the Mustangs took a 32-25 lead to the locker room.
North Dakota hit just 7 of 23 shots in the opening 20 minutes, 30.4 percent. Southwest State shot 41.4 percent and outrebounded UND 21-16. Moen had 12 first-half points while Boll had five.
Southwest State increased its lead to nine, 36-27, at the 17:30 mark, before the Sioux went on a 10-0 run that gave them their first lead since the 15:35 mark of the first half. Boll started the run with a basket and was followed by a basket from sophomore Kristi Kilander, which cut the lead to five. Moen and sophomore Marisa Leighton hit back-to-back 3-points shots on UND’s next two possessions to give the Sioux a 37-36 lead at the 14:10 mark.
Two Moen free throws gave UND a 39-37 lead at the 12:33 mark, but SSU’s Bruns answered with a three-point play 14 seconds later and UND would never regain the lead.
Tied at 45 with 9:01 to play after a Boll basket, SSU went on an 11-2 run which, combined with the Mustang defense, proved to be too much of a hurdle for the Sioux to overcome.
Southwest State’s largest lead of the game, 61-51, came at the 2:04 mark, but North Dakota scored the next six points – a 3-point shot from Boll and three free throws from Moen – to cut the lead to 61-57 with 1:27 to play.
The Sioux fouled SSU’s Amy Boman on the ensuing inbounds play, but Boman hit both free throws to put the Mustangs up 63-57.
UND missed a 3-point shot on its next possession and was forced to foul again. And again SSU hit both to open up a 65-57 lead.
Boman would hit one more free throw down the stretch to produce the final margin of victory.
The 32.7 percent for North Dakota was just above its season low of 32.2 percent, shot against North Dakota State in a 78-66 loss on Feb. 1. The Sioux recorded season lows in both field goals attempted (52) and field goals made (17).
North Dakota held Southwest State to 37.9 percent shooting, but the Mustangs held a 45-38 advantage on the boards.
SSU was led by Boman’s 18 points and nine rebounds and Bruns’s 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Notes: Moen finished the season with 657 points, breaking the old UND mark of 600, set by Jenny Crouse in 1999 … The 467 shots attempted by Moen this season broke the previous mark of 465, set by Theresa LeCuyer last season … Moen finished the season with 141 made free throws. The UND season record is 142, set by Whitney Meier in 1991 … For Boll it was her 17th career game with at least 10 rebounds and her 15th career double-double.
Official Basketball Box Score
Southwest State vs North Dakota
3/8/02 6 p.m. at Grand Junction, Colo. - Brownson Arena
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VISITORS: Southwest State 24-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Michelle Bruns...... f 4-13 0-2 3-7 2 10 12 4 11 4 2 0 3 32
30 Shelli Schoeneck.... f 3-10 0-2 3-5 1 5 6 1 9 4 1 1 2 37
52 Amy Boman........... c 7-13 0-0 4-7 3 6 9 4 18 0 2 0 0 24
14 Mary Roddel......... g 2-7 1-3 3-3 0 0 0 2 8 4 0 0 0 37
20 Regan French........ g 4-6 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 1 9 0 1 0 0 22
04 Nicole Bullock...... 0-2 0-1 4-4 1 2 3 1 4 1 1 0 0 17
32 Ericka Nieman....... 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 8
34 Carrilee Acor....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 8
44 Lorrie Grems........ 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 4 4 0 0 0 2 15
TEAM................ 4 2 6 1
Totals.............. 22-58 2-9 20-30 13 32 45 19 66 13 8 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-29 41.4% 2nd Half: 10-29 34.5% Game: 37.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 0-5 0.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 14-23 60.9% Game: 66.7% 4
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HOME TEAM: North Dakota 24-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Chelsea Hausauer.... f 1-3 1-2 1-2 3 2 5 4 4 1 4 0 0 27
21 Marisa Leighton..... f 1-5 1-2 1-2 0 7 7 3 4 3 0 0 1 20
22 Becky Moen.......... f 5-17 2-8 9-11 0 3 3 3 21 0 2 0 0 40
55 Janel Palbicki...... c 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 0 10
01 Mary Perrizo........ g 1-5 0-3 0-0 0 4 4 5 2 3 3 1 2 27
23 Megan Pick.......... 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 16
25 Trish Fleming....... 1-2 0-1 0-1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 19
41 Kristi Kilander..... 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 8
44 Jenny Boll.......... 7-14 2-3 4-7 2 8 10 4 20 0 3 0 0 33
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 17-52 6-22 17-25 9 29 38 23 57 9 12 3 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-23 30.4% 2nd Half: 10-29 34.5% Game: 32.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-11 18.2% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-13 69.2% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 68.0% 2
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Officials: Michaela Fox, Marty Heine, Myron Shields
Technical fouls: Southwest State-None. North Dakota-None.
Attendance: 863
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Southwest State............... 32 34 - 66
North Dakota.................. 25 32 - 57
Semifinal game of the North Central Region tournament.