Before the game, seniors Jenny Crouse, Kami Winger and Casey Carroll received special recognition. The three have played a major role in the school's 109-12 record since they arrived. Included are two NCAA Division II national championships.
During the game, UND withstood a major South Dakota State challenge, one that saw the Jackrabbits try to run with the Sioux. The Jacks were successful for the first half and trailed by only five points at the break. UND's solid play on both ends of the court in the final 20 minutes, however, was too much for SDSU.
After the game, the Sioux donned NCC championship T-shirts and received a plaque from Jon Martin of the NCC office during a short ceremony. Finally, what had been expected all season was official, as the Sioux won their second straight NCC title.
Now they can focus on the Division II playoffs.
"This was a good game for us," said Crouse, who scored 21 points. "It made us work, and that's good because it's close to tournament time."
The Sioux had a tournament look in the second half. A 17-5 run gave UND a 70-53 lead with 10:36 left. The run came in the usual manner. Crouse scored inside, Katie Richards (19 points) scored 3-pointers on transition and Jaime Pudenz (21) continued to dish out assists as well as score.
Still, the win wasn't as easy as the score indicated. "They had a lot to shoot for," Pudenz said. "They came ready to play. But you want a difficult game. You want to be pressed, because when it comes down to tournament time, you know what you have to do."
UND's performance in the first half needed work. The Jackrabbits, led by Gwen Greiner (24) and Lora Kluis (15), beat the Sioux on transition at times and also looked sharp in the half-court game.
"I though (the Jackrabbits) played a great game," UND coach Gene Roebuck said. "They had their back to the wall and came out fighting. It was a great first half for the fans, because it was up and down. And they beat us on transition a few times.
"We were a little out of sync offensively. We weren't in the right spots. But in the second half, we played a lot smarter."
South Dakota State dropped to 10-6 in the NCC and needs to win its final two games to have a shot at the playoffs. "On a lot of weekends, when we play this well, we usually get two wins," South Dakota State coach Nancy Neiber said.
But the weekend belonged to the Sioux and their three seniors, each of whom has contributed in different ways to UND's four-year run of success.
"When I look at those three, I look at sacrifice," Roebuck said. "Casey worked hard for three years but didn't get a lot of playing time. But she came to practice every day and pushed players. What I like about her is she's usually the first one at practice.
"Kami is another player who sacrificed a lot. She didn't start, but we wouldn't have won two national championships without her. She's made the difference in a lot of games.
"And Jennifer came here for all the right reasons. She had a lot of options but chose academics first."
Crouse also added another record to her dominating career. She had only three rebounds, but she now shares the NCC career mark for rebounds with Heidi Morlock. And she needs 21 points to break the NCC scoring record as well.
| UND (97) | |||||||
| Name | Min | FG | FT | Reb O-T | PF | Ast | Points |
| Pudenz | 37 | 7-15 | 3-4 | 0-5 | 2 | 9 | 21 |
| Jones | 29 | 2-6 | 2-3 | 2-5 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Leno | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hoffner | 22 | 3-7 | 1-2 | 3-6 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| Winger | 26 | 6-9 | 3-5 | 5-11 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Super | 5 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Carroll | 19 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Richards | 32 | 6-16 | 3-3 | 3-10 | 2 | 5 | 19 |
| Crouse | 27 | 7-12 | 7-7 | 1-3 | 2 | 3 | 21 |
| Hoffman | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 200 | 34-74 | 19-24 | 17-52 | 17 | 26 | 97 |
| South Dakota St. (78) | |||||||
| Kluis | 35 | 5-19 | 5-5 | 1-7 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
| Rippke | 22 | 5-10 | 0-0 | 2-8 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Brende | 32 | 4-13 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| Sylvester | 30 | 1-5 | 6-6 | 0-4 | 2 | 8 | 8 |
| Griener | 32 | 7-12 | 7-8 | 1-2 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| DeRuyck | 14 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Loken | 16 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 1-3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Olson | 8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Weisbrod | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wadsworth | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnson | 2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engel | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 200 | 25-69 | 24-27 | 12-38 | 19 | 19 | 78 |