By Wayne Nelson
Herald Staff Writer
Jenny Crouse knew she hadn't played well in her six previous Sioux-Bison women's basketball games. "Terrible," is how she described her past performances against UND's biggest rival.
"I've always been in foul trouble," Crouse said. "I wised up after last year. I was a little more focused this time."
UND kept a sharp focus throughout Saturday night at Hyslop Sports Center, dismantling North Dakota State 91-67 before 3,485 fans.
The fact that UND the defending Division II national champion won was not surprising. The margin of victory, however, was. The Sioux snapped NDSU's 30-game NCC win streak. And the Bison had not been beaten as badly since an 85-57 loss to UND back in 1984.
"As a team, we came in relaxed," said Crouse, who scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "We had a great week of practice. But it's a good feeling to know that I played halfway decent for once (against the Bison). And we go into the Christmas break feeling pretty good."
Every Sioux player who saw time on the court followed Crouse's lead. Jaime Pudenz added 18 points while Tiffany Pudenz (16), Katie Richards (13) and Kami Winger (12) also scored in double figures.
Crouse scored six of her points in the first 2:20, helping the Sioux open a 12-2 lead. That lead ballooned to 25-8 on a Richards' put-back with 12:32 left in the first half. NDSU never could recover.
As dominating as Crouse was in the early going, UND's pressure defense was equally as effective. The Sioux full-court press, led by Jaime Pudenz and Tiffany Pudenz, took NDSU out of its offense. The quicker Sioux forced 25 Bison turnovers. Also, had it not been for a 13-3 Bison free-throw advantage in the first half, UND's 48-30 lead at intermission could have been a lot larger.
"It doesn't matter if you lose by one or 100," NDSU coach Amy Ruley said. "A loss is a loss. We never rallied after they got that early lead."
UND made sure NDSU never recovered simply by keeping the pressure on the Bison.
"The press took them out of their offense," said Jaime Pudenz, who had five assists and five steals to complement her 18 points. "Tiffany pressured Rachael Otto up the court all night, and it was very hard for them to get into their offense."
Otto was forced into the role of breaking UND's press due to the injury of regular point guard Tanya Fischer.
"We thought we were prepared for that (pressure)," said Otto, who scored only five points. "We made dumb mistakes against their pressure, and hopefully we can learn from that. We just played terrible. But we definitely can play with them. We'll be ready next time."
After UND's early blitz, NDSU did rally. Amy Ornell, whose scoring inside was the bulk of NDSU's first-half offense, scored on an offensive rebound with 7:06 left, cutting the Sioux lead to 30-23.
But the Sioux followed with a 9-0 run, highlighted by points from four players Elisha Kabanuk, Jaime Pudenz, Crouse and Winger.
UND's pressure was intense, but it didn't match the Sioux mental condition entering the game.
"We came out relaxed and ready to go," UND coach Gene Roebuck said. "I thought that getting that lead right away put the pressure on them. This year, we're a tougher team to come back on. We're a little more mature than last year."
No. 4-ranked UND's decisive win over the No. 6-ranked Bison will raise eyebrows throughout the league and nation. But what kind of message does it send to the rest of the league and nation?
"I don't know if it sends a message to anyone," Roebuck said. "But we know we can play a good, solid game, especially defensively."
"Their pressure overall took us out of our offense," said Ruley, whose team made only 33.3 percent of its field-goal attempts. "In practice, it's tough to duplicate that kind of pressure. But I think we'll be able to build off of this loss."
And, as the Sioux remember, UND built its way to last year's national title after losing by 17 points to the Bison in Fargo last year in the NCC season opener.
| NDSU (67) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Lang | 3-9 | 6-6 | 14 |
| Ornell | 5-9 | 3-4 | 13 |
| Even | 3-9 | 2-2 | 8 |
| Boedekker | 4-9 | 0-0 | 8 |
| Berry | 1-3 | 3-3 | 6 |
| Stefonowicz | 0-3 | 5-6 | 5 |
| Otto | 1-9 | 2-5 | 5 |
| Ditty | 2-2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Amundson | 0-2 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Smith | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Totals | 20-60 | 23-26 | 67 |
| UND (91) | |||
| J. Pudenz | 7-16 | 2-2 | 18 |
| Jones | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 |
| T. Pudenz | 5-16 | 2-2 | 16 |
| Hoffner | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Winger | 5-7 | 2-7 | 12 |
| Super | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Kabanuk | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Carroll | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Richards | 3-6 | 5-6 | 13 |
| Arndtson | 2-5 | 2-2 | 8 |
| Crouse | 8-9 | 3-4 | 19 |
| Totals | 32-67 | 17-25 | 91 |