March 10, 2000

Northern State battled but came up short Friday in an 82-67 loss to Minnesota-Duluth during the first day of the North Central Region Tournament in Fargo, N.D.

After going into the half down 35-32, the Wolves threatened to take the lead early in the second half, pulling as close as 43-45, but Duluth answered with a key 7-0 run NSU never fully recovered from. The Wolves were able to pull within five a few more times in the second half, but could get no closer as UMD shot a scorching 58 percent in the second stanza and hit virtually every shot and free throw in the closing minutes to thwart NSU’s late comeback bids and bloat the final score.

The game marked the end of two stellar careers at Northern State. Senior guards Jammie Coyle (Belle Fourche) and Amanda Mikuska (Platte) walked off the court for the last time, taking nearly eight years of starting experience and around 3,000 career points with them.

Coyle led all scorers with 23 points, while Mikuska netted 12. Junior forward Memory Johannsen (Tolstoy) and sophomore forward Shanna Dahl (St. Cloud, Minn.) rounded out NSU’s double-digit scorers with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Both also had five rebounds to lead NSU. Sophomore guard Mary Barker led UMD (25-5) with 19 points.