The UND women's basketball team doesn't have too many connections with Pine Bluff. But UND's toughness, when it counted, was unmatched by Pine Bluff, the Emporia (Kan.) State Hornets or anyone else for that matter who wanted to challenge the Sioux on the basketball floor.
UND's grit and toughness down the stretch carried it to a highly emotional 87-81 win over Emporia on Thursday night in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight women's basketball tournament.
The win advances No. 1-ranked UND to Saturday's national championship game against Arkansas Tech. The Sioux, 30-1, will be seeking their third straight national title.
"We probably didn't play the way we were capable of playing,"UND coach Gene Roebuck said."But we played so hard. Down the stretch, we outplayed them at their game."
Richards -- the Sioux junior forward who rises above the rest in intense games -- took control when UND needed a major lift. The Sioux, after leading most of the way, were in an offensive funk as the stretch run approached.
However, Richards came to the rescue. She scored 10 straight UND points in a span of 1 minute, 35 seconds. The Sioux trailed 66-63 with just under seven minutes left when Richards unleashed an awesome offensive display that left the 1,514 Pine Bluff Convention Center Center fans in awe.
Richards hit two 3-pointers, the first coming from 21 feet while the second was fired from 23 feet. She also scored on a driving layup and finished the spurt with an 18-footer.
"They were sagging off me and daring me to take the shot,"said Richards, who led the Sioux with 26 points."They probably figured I couldn't hit the shot because I didn't shoot well Wednesday (6-of-17 from the field in a quarterfinal victory against Kennesaw State).
"But this game was for the chance to get to the national championship game. Everyone stayed together down the stretch. We were all there for each other."
Richards' final basket of her 10-point run -- coming at the 5:11 mark -- gave UND the lead for good at 73-71. However, it wasn't easy for UND in the final minutes.
Richards, however, received help from her teammates as Emporia and its aggressive defense refused to quit.
The Sioux picked up big points from Tonia Jones in the final two minutes. Jones' put-back with 1:54 left gave the Sioux an 82-79 lead. She hit two free throws with 1:08 left, giving the Sioux an 84-81 advantage.
And that was crucial because UND shot poorly from the free-throw line. The Sioux were 16-of-30 from the line but made only 6-of-16 free throws in the second half until Jenny Crouse dropped two with just under one second to play.
"If we had lost, I was going to congratulate our team on a fine season,"Roebuck said."But now I can tell them what they did wrong. We'll be working on free throws in practice (today)."
UND played well early, making 8 of its first 12 shots en route to an 18-7 lead. But Emporia, led by Jurgita Kausaite (23 points), stormed back and grabbed a 26-24 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
The Sioux, however, regained control on a Jaime Pudenz' 3-pointer with 9:44 left. Pudenz, who injured her ankle in UND's win over Kennesaw, played the entire 40 minutes and finished with 16 points.
"Emporia is the toughest defensive team we've played all year," Roebuck said."They took things away from us."
UND led 47-41 but couldn't pull away at the start of the second half. Crouse, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, picked up her third and fourth fouls in a span of 12 seconds early in the second half. And Richards also was in foul trouble, picking up her fourth foul with 15:01 left.
With those Sioux players spending time on the bench, UND's offense struggled. But the Sioux received 10 points from Kami Winger and five from Casey Carroll to stay close.
However, when Richards returned at the 8-minute mark, she took over.
"Richards is great player,"Emporia coach Brandon Schneider said."This time of the year, special players will make special plays. And Richards is a special player."
Schneider said Emporia did all it could against the Sioux. But, he said, UND just has too much, just like it had last year when the Sioux beat the Hornets for the national title.
"If you make one mistake, just for a split-second, they'll make you pay for it."
And for the second straight year, UND made Emporia pay for its mistakes.
UND
47 40 - 87
Emporia State 41 40
- 81
| UND | FG | FT | Reb | ||||
| Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | PF | A | Pts | |
| Pudenz | 40 | 5-13 | 2-4 | 0-3 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Jones | 34 | 3-6 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| Hoffner | 23 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Richards | 28 | 10-23 | 1-2 | 1-5 | 5 | 5 | 26 |
| Crouse | 27 | 8-11 | 6-9 | 4-14 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
| Winger | 24 | 4-9 | 2-7 | 6-14 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Carroll | 24 | 1-5 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Team Reb | 2-3 | ||||||
| Totals | 200 | 31-72 | 16-30 | 18-47 | 19 | 22 | 81 |
Percentages: FG .431, FT .533
3-Point FG: 9-21 .429 (Richards 5-11, Pudenz 4-7, Hoffner 0-3)
Turnovers: 19 (Richards 4, Pudenz 4)
Blocks: 5 (Crouse 4)
Steals: 6 (Winger 3)
| Emporia State | FG | FT | Reb | ||||
| Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | PF | A | Pts | |
| Kausaite | 33 | 10-21 | 3-3 | 5-17 | 4 | 1 | 23 |
| Perine | 40 | 0-2 | 4-4 | 0-3 | 4 | 14 | 4 |
| Wells | 27 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Sprague | 27 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Bloss | 28 | 5-16 | 2-3 | 2-8 | 4 | 0 | 13 |
| Kindle | 22 | 4-11 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Holloway | 23 | 7-14 | 6-8 | 6-10 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| Team Reb. | 0-1 | ||||||
| Totals | 200 | 30-73 | 17-21 | 16-44 | 25 | 21 | 81 |
Percentages: FG .411, FT .810
3-point FG: 4-16 .250 (Wells 2-4, Bloss 1-3, Kindle 1-5, Kausaite 0-3,
Perine 0-1)
Turnovers: 20 (Perine 4, Wells 4, Bloss 4)
Blocks: 5 (Holloway 2, Wells 2)
Steals: 10 (Kausaite 5)