SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Jenny Crouse led the University of North Dakota on a late first-half run against Augustana here Saturday, and reached the first of three milestones in the process.
The Fighting Sioux ran away in the second half and beat the Vikings 77-59. But the game was close in the first half.
Augustana took a 27-25 lead on a Nicole Tendler bucket with 2:26 left to play in the half. That's when Crouse took over and started UND running. Jenny rattled off the Sioux's next six points, which gave UND a 31-27 lead. Crouse had eight of UND's last 10 first-half points, and also had a steal which led to a Missy Leno layup and a Fighting Sioux 33-28 halftime lead. The scoring spurt made Crouse the first ever player in UND women's hoops history to go over 2,000 points (2,003).
"It's amazing, I had no idea where I stood," Crouse said. "That run was really important to us. Our defensive intensity picked up with a couple minutes to go, and when that happens we get on a run offensively."
UND's defense was the biggest reason it was in the game, as the Sioux shot just 33 percent from the field in the first half. UND outrebounded Augie in the first half, and held the Vikings to just 21-percent shooting.
"They listened to what I preached: you can't make your shots all the time, but you can always play good defense," Sioux coach Gene Roebuck said. "I have to credit our players with a well-played game defensively. Then we started getting the ball inside really well and hit threes when we needed them (in the second half)."
Crouse finished the half with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Her next two milestones came back-to-back late in the second half. But first there was business to attend to.
Crouse came out of the locker room and scored the first four points of the second half, which upped the UND lead to 37-28. Katie Richards put the Sioux up by ten points, 40-30, when she connected on the first of her three second-half treys at the 17:33 mark. Augie's Tamera Oltmanns drove the baseline and made a layup with 15:43 to play, which brought the Vikings to within eight points, 42-34. That was the last time Augustana would trail by less than ten, however.
With the game out of hand, the only stat that would be close was whether Crouse would break her own rebounding record. She did. Crouse grabbed her 23rd board of the night to set the new UND record, then grabbed her 24th which gave her 1,000 career rebounds. She finished the night with 25 points and 26 rebounds; 2,014 career points and 1,002 career boards.
"Jenny was absolutely phenomenal," Roebuck said. "She dominated the boards and played great defense. Rebounding is always something you expect from Jennifer, but her defensive play tonight was really important."
Richards finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Kami Winger had 12 points for the Sioux. The win was UND's 18th of the season, and its 46th in a row. The Sioux remain atop the NCC with a 9-0 record.
| UND (77) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Pudenz | 2-7 | 2-2 | 7 |
| Jones | 2-5 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Hoffner | 0-6 | 1-2 | 1 |
| Winger | 6-10 | 0-0 | 12 |
| Super | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Carroll | 3-4 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Richards | 7-18 | 2-3 | 20 |
| Crouse | 8-18 | 9-9 | 25 |
| Leno | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Totals | 29-71 | 14-16 | 77 |
| Augustana (59) | |||
| Stratton | 5-14 | 3-4 | 15 |
| Meyer | 2-11 | 1-2 | 6 |
| Janssen | 4-15 | 3-4 | 11 |
| Keegan | 2-7 | 2-2 | 8 |
| Reidburn | 2-8 | 0-0 | 5 |
| Oltmanns | 1-4 | 1-2 | 3 |
| Tendler | 2-9 | 2-2 | 7 |
| Larson | 1-1 | 2-2 | 4 |
| Hillary | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 |
| Totals | 19-70 | 14-19 | 59 |