Jan. 28, 2000

The pre-game problems in Northern State's eventual 77-66 loss to touring Southwest State ended up being a precursor to how the game would go for the Wolves.

Problems with the audio system in Wachs Arena had pre-game music ranging from blaring to mute and pre-empted the national anthem altogether.

When the 14th-ranked Wolves -- also ranked first in the North Central Region -- took to the floor, things didn't go much better. Not for lack of effort, the Wolves just fell into the proverbial "one of those nights" syndromes early and never shook out of it. NSU (18-3, 8-2 NSIC) shot an abysmal 28 percent from the field, with many shots seemingly pondering on the rim before deciding to roll off.

But despite the offensive woes, the Wolves were in the game to the end against a primed Southwest State club all too ready to knock its rivals off on an off night. The SSU (11-6, 7-3 NSIC) win was the first ever for the women's program in Aberdeen, and also denied NSU coach Curt Fredrickson his 500th career victory.

NSU senior guard Jammie Coyle (Belle Fourche) led all scorers with 23 points and had 10 rebounds. Junior forward Natalie Braun (Warner) led the Wolves on the boards with a hard-nosed 11. Fellow junior forward Memory Johannsen (Tolstoy) rounded out NSU's double-digit scorers with 12 points to go with four assists. SSU was led by a career performance by Jessie Pelzel, who netted 21.

SSU led by as many as 17 in the second half, but the Wolves fought back and were always within striking distance ... had the invisible lid come ever off their basket. The teams ended with the exact same team rebounding numbers (10 offensive, 28 defensive, 47 total).

Senior guard Amanda Mikuska (Platte) moved into third on NSU's career assists list (passing Julie Jensen) and also moved into 20th on NSU's career scoring list (passing Nancy King) during the game.