Since its only loss of the season to North Dakota State last month, UND women's basketball coach Gene Roebuck has stressed defense. Sioux practices the last month largely have been defense- and rebound-oriented.
On Friday night, Augustana College saw UND's defense perhaps at its season's best. UND's offense -- as usual -- was rolling, too. UND's defense and offense helped the Sioux blitz Augustana 94-56 at Hyslop Sports Center, a win that gave UND a share of the North Central Conference title.
"The conference title is something you shoot for at the beginning of the year," said Roebuck, who also won his 300th game as UND coach. "But the conference championship is a stepping stone for the postseason. We have our foot in the door with a share of it. But we have to step up and be hungry to win it outright."
The Sioux certainly were hungry defensively against an Augustana team that has smooth, good-shooting offensive players. And UND's sticky defense started with point guard Jaime Pudenz, who continuously disrupted the flow of the Vikings' offense.
"We held them to under 60 (points), and that's always a goal for us," said Pudenz, who also scored 16 points. "We pressed the up the court and our post players did a good job of not letting their post players get to the blocks.
"We made them take tough shots. Every shot was contested."
UND's aggressive defense was not lost on Augustana coach Dick Krauth. "They got up in us and on the ball," Krauth said. "They overplayed us and you have to match that aggressiveness. And we didn't."
Early on, however, Augie -- led by Renee Reidburn's 16 points -- matched UND basket-for-basket. Kari Stratton's low-post, fade-away jumper at the 15:04 mark of the first half gave the Vikings a 14-12 lead. But the Sioux answered with a 17-0 run to gain control.
Katie Richards, who scored a career-high 31 points, led the charge with a pair of transition 3-pointers.
"They started out on fire," Richards said. "They couldn't miss. That was a wake-up call for us. We had to kick it up."
The Sioux, behind Richards, never looked back after their big run. UND led 48-31 at the break behind 53 percent shooting. The Sioux defense continued to fluster Augustana in the second half; their transition game looked as sharp as it has all season. UND's hustle never let up despite a 30-point lead.
Richards, Krauth said, played just as big a role in the Sioux win as did their defense.
"Richards is their consistent scorer from the outside," Krauth said. "It was unbelievable how often we left her to help on someone else."
The Sioux were not a one-player show. Jenny Crouse added 18 points and now needs 42 points to become the NCC's career scoring leader. And Kami Winger added 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
"In the conference, this is the best we've played for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor," Roebuck said. "I thought we played structured defense. And we ran the floor well."
Crouse, who also grabbed 10 rebounds, added one more accomplishment to her standout career. The 6-foot-3 senior attempted -- and made -- her first career 3-pointer late in the second half.
Standing unguarded on the left wing, fans yelled at Crouse to shoot. So, she did. And the shot drew nothing but net.
"We've been razzing her for the last few games to at least shoot a 3-pointer before her career ends," Pudenz said. "That was a good memory for me."
| UND (94) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Pudenz | 6 | 3-3 | 16 |
| Jones | 1 | 0-0 | 3 |
| Hoffman | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Winger | 3 | 7-10 | 13 |
| Carroll | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Richards | 12 | 2-2 | 31 |
| Crouse | 5 | 7-7 | 18 |
| Leno | 2 | 2-2 | 7 |
| Totals | 31 | 23-26 | 94 |
| Augustana (56) | |||
| Stratton | 3 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Meyer | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Janssen | 5 | 2-2 | 12 |
| Keegan | 2 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Reidburn | 5 | 3-6 | 13 |
| Oltmanns | 1 | 4-6 | 6 |
| Tendler | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Larson | 0 | 0-1 | 0 |
| Hillary | 0 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Totals | 20 | 11-17 | 56 |