Mar. 3rd, 2007 - St. Paul, Minn.	1st	2nd	Final	Records
#3 Northern State	27	28	55	20-9
#2 MSU Moorhead	28	43	71	21-8

 

Northern Stalled In NSIC Semis

March 3, 2007
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Wolves’ (20-9) dreams of an NSIC Tournament championship were shattered in the semifinal round of the Red Baron Women’s Basketball Classic Saturday night. They stuck with the Dragons of MSU Moorhead (21-8) for the first 38 minutes of the game before MSUM cranked out a 31-10 run to finish the game with a 71-55 win. The Dragons will take on Concordia-St. Paul in the championship round of the Classic tomorrow afternoon at 3:00.

The Wolves did not hit their first field goal of the game until the 14:55 mark when Jessica Deinert knocked down a three-pointer that stopped a MSUM 9-0 game-opening run. Celia Westphal sunk five consecutive points for NSU to bring the score to 11-8 in favor of the Dragons. Moorhead used guard play to extend a small lead, but foul troubles got the Wolves to the charity stripe where they evened the score and a Megan Kusler jumper gave NSU their first lead of the game, 18-17 at the 5:43 mark. MSUM’s Allison Swenson led the Dragons down the stretch with two blocks and five free throws. The Dragons led 28-27 at the intermission.

With the firepower of Deinert in the first part of the second half, the Wolves led by as many as five points in the game. NSU’s guards were a key component to the team’s success in the game, but the Wolves eventually hit a dry spell and the Dragons began to pull away. Northern scored just 10 points in the final 11:55 of the game, while Moorhead put in 31 points. The Dragons also pulled away in the rebounding column. They led by five boards at the half and finished the game with 11 more rebounds than the Wolves, 46-35, the largest rebounding deficit given up by NSU this season. MSUM led by as many as 20 points in the game and finished with a 71-55 win.

Jessica Deinert hit four three-pointers in the game on her way to 14 points. She was the only NSU player to finish with double figures in scoring. Carolin Becker, Celia Westphal, and Amanda Glenz each pulled down a team high five rebounds. The Wolves shot 30.0 percent from the field (18-60) and had 16 turnovers.

Lindsey Anderson and Allison Swenson led all players with 14 points, with Swenson finishing the game with 11 rebounds to complete her double double. Krista Opheim tallied 11 points for the Dragons. The team shot 43.3 percent from the field (26-60), 70.0 percent from three point range (7-10), and 85.7 percent from the stripe (12-14).

The Wolves will await the NCAA Regional Selection show on Sunday night to see if their season will continue at the North Central Regional Tournament.

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