Feb. 3, 2001

Northern State made a serious post-season statement by dominating Minnesota-State Moorhead 97-73 Saturday night in Aberdeen.

The game pitted the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's fourth-ranked team in MSU-M against Northern, the fifth seed. When conference play concludes at the end of the regular season, the top four teams get to host first-round games of the NSIC tournament. With NSU's win, the Wolves (12-8 overall, 8-4 NSIC) are again in the driver's seat to host, kicking the Dragons (11-10, 8-5) to the back. With a win at Moorhead Dec. 29, the Wolves are now 2-0 with MSU-M on the season.

From the beginning it was apparent that the Wolves wouldn't let a loss on their home court on parent's night and NSU's annual "I Hate Winter" night decide their post-season fate of hosting another game in the playoffs for seniors Memory Johannsen (Tolstoy), Jennifer Murphy (Aberdeen) and Natalie Braun (Warner).

NSU never trailed in the game and built a commanding 21-point lead at 46-25 going into halftime. The Dragons were never able to recover. The team's full-court pressure and constant defensive hounding gave the Dragons fits all night. NSU recorded 14 steals and forced 21 turnovers for the game. NSU shot 52 percent on the night and held MSUM to just 33 percent shooting in the decisive first half.

The Wolves were led by Johannsen's  19 points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Junior point guard Holly Schaunaman (Leola) put up 18 points and recorded a game-high four steals. Fellow junior point Sara Hemquist (Baxter, Minn.) also had a stellar defensive game and chipped in 10 points for NSU. Murphy led the team on the boards with seven rebounds to go with 14 points. MSU-M was led by Kristin Engeldorf's 15 points.

NSU's final regular season home game is on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, against Minnesota-Morris. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.