Dec. 2, 2000

Senior forward Memory Johannsen (Tolstoy) was true to her name again Saturday in Aberdeen, making yet another memory for Northern State University's women's basketball program. Much to the delight of the over 3,500 in attendance, the team captain and fourth-year starter grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback with five seconds left to give NSU a 70-69 win over South Dakota State.

Johannsen's shining moment gave NSU (3-4) its third straight win, including two straight over North Central Conference schools. NSU defeated Minnesota State-Mankato Tuesday. SDSU dropped to 4-2 on the season. Its other loss on the year came at the hands of NSIC school Minnesota-Duluth.

Even though the game saw nine ties and 14 lead changes, the Wolves held the lead for most of the second half. But they were never able to shake the Jackrabbits. SDSU came back to start exchanging leads with eight minutes remaining and took a three-point lead with just under four minutes left in the game. But Johannsen anwered with 3-pointer to knot the score at 63-63. An even scarier threat for Wolves fans was yet to come, as the Jacks built a four-point lead at 69-65 with 1:30 remaining and looked to be on their way to a win in Wachs Arena.

But Johannsen and fellow senior forward Natalie Braun (Warner), along with a freshman playing like a seasoned veteran stepped up again. Braun came up with a steal and assist to freshman guard Carin Rambow (Litchfield, Minn.), who calmly stroked a 3-pointer to bring the Wolves within one point with just 44 seconds remaining. It was the second game in a row Rambow came up big down the stretch for NSU. Against Minnesota State-Mankato earlier in the week, the freshman scored nine of NSU's last 11 points to secure the win.

NSU would next come up big on the defensive end, forcing an SDSU turnover with just over 20 seconds remaining. That set the stage for Johannsen's heroics. A barely missed jumper by senior post Jennifer Murphy (Aberdeen) became the biggest of Johannsen's team-high eight rebounds, and her put-back the obvious highlight of her 12 points on the night. But almost all of her points were timely. In addition to the 3-pointer that tied the score at 63 and the game-winning shot, Johannsen also hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to switch the momentum going into halftime. Before that shot, SDSU had went on a 6-0 run to take the lead. Johannsen's shot put an emphatic stop to the bleeding and pulled NSU to within two points at 26-24 going into the locker rooms.

Junior point guard Holly Schaunaman (Leola) led the Wolves with 19 points and five steals to go with six rebounds and four assists on the night. Murphy ended with 16 points and seven boards, while Rambow rounded out NSU's double-digit scorers with 10 points. For SDSU, Angie Loken recorded a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.