Semi-Sweet

Photo Courtesy of Bob Berry

Wolves Advance to First Ever Championship Game

Wayne, Neb.- The Northern State University Wolves (24-5, 11-3 NSIC) won their first semi-final game ever in the NSIC/Red Baron Women’s Basketball Classic as they defeated the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears (19-10, 9-5 NSIC) 70-51. The Wolves will play the Wayne State Wildcats on Sunday March 5th at 2:00 pm in Wayne, NE for the NSIC/Red Baron Tournament Championship.

The Wolves were led by Noelle Hall (So., C., Altura, Minn.) who scored 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and snared nine rebounds. Miranda Boepple (Jr., F., Dickinson, N.D.) also had a big night for the Wolves as she had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Boepple scored 11 of her points off of free throws as she went 11-of-11 on the afternoon. Her 11 rebounds tied her career high which was against Concordia St. Paul back on December 12, 2004. Ali Chmielewski (Sr., G., Foley, Minn.) scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds for the Wolves.

With their performances Hall and Chmielewski both went over 800 points in their career. Hall sits at 807 points and A.Chmielewski sits at 803 going into the final games of the season.

Concordia-St. Paul opened up the game on a 5-0 run but from then on it was all Northern State as they outscored the Golden Bears 34-21 to take an eight-point lead into the break 36-24. The Wolves were led by Ali Chmielewski (Sr., G., Foley, Minn.) who scored 10 of her 17 points in the first half of play.

In the second half the Golden Bears got within five at 43-38 with 13:35 left but the Wolves would use runs of 8-0 and 11-0 to put the game out of reach. The Golden Bears only shot 24.1% 7-of-29 compared to the Wolves 44.8% 13-of-29 in the second half.

The Golden Bears out-shot the Wolves from the free throw line by four but the Wolves shot 82.6% 19-of-23 compared to the Golden Bears 55.6% 15-of-27. The Wolves also out rebounded the Golden Bears 38 to 35 and only committed 9 turnovers to the Golden Bears 12. For the game the Wolves shot 43.4% 23-of-53 compared to the Golden Bears 32.7% 17-of-52.

Ashley Smith who scored 16 points on 6-of-13 and snared 8 rebounds led Concordia St. Paul.

The Wolves now advance to the NSIC/Red Baron Women’s Basketball Championship game for the first time in school history. They will take on the host team, Wayne State on Sunday, March 5 th at 2:00 p.m. in Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Neb.

Press Notes