MICHALSKI CLUTCH IN WOLVES' 70-62 WIN OVER MINNESOTA-DULUTH

Feb. 16, 2002

Team ball -- NSU senior Shanna Dahl tries to find an open player against UMD Saturday night. All 10 players to see time on the court scored against the Bulldogs.

Both teams expected it. The nearly 2,500 fans in attendance knew it was coming. And sure enough, there it was at crunch time.

But Northern's 6-foot-4 junior post Tia Michalski put a stop to it, helping Northern chalk up another home victory in a 70-62 win over Minnesota-Duluth in a battle of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contenders Saturday night.

"It," was a final run by Minnesota-Duluth. Northern earned control of the game and built its lead to as many as 15 points with less than 10 minutes remaining. But back came the Bulldogs, putting together a 14-2 run in the next five minutes of play. Northern was forced to call a timeout up just 59-56 to try and stop the bleeding with just under five minutes to play.

Enter Michalski. Coming out of the timeout, the Wolves went to the Willow Lake native in the paint, and she delivered with a shot over UMD all-American candidate Kate Madrinich. UMD came back and went straight to Madrinich in the post, who had been virtually unstoppable all night. But not this time, as Michalski blocked her offering and gobbled up the defensive rebound.

The Wolves went straight back to "Capital T," who scored again on Madrinich to put NSU up 63-56, then blocked another UMD shot on the Bulldogs' ensuing possession. Michalski would come up with yet another block and a steal down the stretch, but her play during the four possessions out of the timeout stopped UMD's run cold and gave her team the momentum it needed to close out Duluth.

Sophomore guard Carin Rambow (Litchfield, Minn.) led NSU's balanced attack with 13 points, while freshman post Natalie Hopkins (St. Louis Park, Minn.) led the team on the boards with six rebounds to go with 12 points. Junior forward Shana Theobald (Brookings) rounded out NSU's double-digit scorers with 11 points. Michalski ended with six points, four boards and four blocks. Madrinich led UMD with 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting.

NSU's Carin Rambow boxes out against UMD Saturday.

Northern improved its undefeated home winning streak this season to 11 games. NSU has won its past 16 games at home, dating back to last season.

With the win, Northern (17-8 overall, 12-5 NSIC) kept hope alive for a conference championship. With one week remaining in league play, the standings are very close at the top. Northern will finish the regular season on the road next weekend against travel partner Minnesota-Morris. Every other team will have to play two games. League leaders Concordia-St. Paul and Southwest State have tough road weekends ahead of them, with CSP having to play at Duluth and Southwest embarking on a road trip that cost NSU two losses at MSU-Moorhead and Minnesota-Crookston.

When looking at the standings, keep in mind Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota-Crookston are eligible for the regular season league title, but cannot compete in the post-season conference tournament because both schools are still provisional NCAA II members.

Here are the current NSIC standings:

Final weekend in NSIC regular season schedule:

Feb. 22
Northern State at Minnesota-Morris
Wayne State at Minnesota-Crookston
Concordia-St. Paul at Bemidji State
Winona State at Minnesota-Duluth
Southwest State at MSU-Moorhead

Feb. 23
Concordia-St. Paul at Minnesota-Duluth
Southwest State at Minnesota-Crookston
Winona State at Bemidji State
Wayne State at MSU-Moorhead