Amid spotlights and fanfare, UND's second NCAA Division II women's basketball national championship banner was unveiled Sunday at Hyslop Sports Center minutes before the Sioux played Lake Superior State.
The past then carried over into the present. But not for long.
UND, led by Mandy Arndtson's 16 points, shook off a less-than-sparkling first half to rout Lake Superior 75-50 in the season opener for the Sioux.
"We kind of played helter-skelter," Sioux point guard Jaime Pudenz said of UND's first-half showing. "We were doing a lot of individual stuff. We were so excited to get going."
And the warm thoughts of last year probably didn't help once the game began. "That added to our excitement," Pudenz said of the spotlights and player introductions in the darkened arena.
Still, UND led 38-24 at half. The Sioux made 54 percent of their shots, but also had 13 turnovers -- many coming on bad passes.
But there was never a doubt as to the outcome because UND's defense was too much for slower Lake Superior, which made only 26 percent of its shots. Kendra Harris led the Lakers with 16 points.
"We weren't getting our post players the ball in the first half," Pudenz said. "That's our strength. If we would have made two more passes on our possessions, our post players would have been wide open. As the game went on, we got a little better at that."
Center Jenny Crouse, last year's Division II player of the year, and 6-2 Kami Winger took a combined 13 shots, a statistic that didn't please Sioux coach Gene Roebuck.
"We need to work very hard on our passing," Roebuck said. "We need to play to our strengths."
But there were times when the Sioux looked invincible, just as they looked many times last season.
In the second half, Sioux passes were sharper and its transition game, at times, was devastating.
Arndtson, who scored all of her points in the second half, finished a well-executed fastbreak as she scored a layup after taking a Pudenz lob pass. The play was started on the other end of the court by a Crouse block.
Seconds later, Crouse whipped a two-handed outlet to Arndtson, who easily scored another fastbreak basket for a 48-26 lead. Casey Carroll followed with an inside basket and the Sioux turned it into a blowout when Arndtson hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 56-33 lead.
Pudenz and Crouse both finished with 14 points while Katie Richards added 12.
"I thought in the second half we came out under control," Roebuck said. "At times we looked great and at times we were too excited. We have to slow ourselves down a little bit at times."
The No. 1-ranked Sioux play at No. 24 Florida Southern on Thursday night.