Northern Rallies To Take NSIC Opener 73-71

December 1 , 2006
WINONA, Minn. – The Northern State women’s basketball team, newly ranked in the nation at #22 and coming off of a loss last weekend, pulled out the stops to take a 73-71 win over a hot-shooting Winona State (3-3, 0-1 NSIC) in the conference opener. The Wolves overcame a halftime deficit with a strong second half and held off the Warriors in the final minutes to improve to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in NSIC play.

The Wolves were off the mark in the opening minutes of the half, but took advantage of offensive rebounds to gain second chance points to keep the score tight. Just minutes into the game, however, Winona went on a long-range shooting rampage that would last the entirety of the first half. The Warriors hit their third three of the night at the 11:18 mark to go ahead 14-11, but Allison Johnson answered in NSU’s next possession with a long ball to tie the game back up. Winona then went on an 11-4 run, hitting their fifth and sixth three’s to go up 25-18.

Northern battled back through the Warrior zone to get back to within four points, 29-24 with four and a half minutes to play before the break. They scored on just about every possession but were unable get enough defensive stops to gain the lead as WSU maintained an above average shooting performance. The Warriors finished the half with a 39-30 lead after shooting 54.5% (12-22) from the field, including 8-of-14 three-pointers. The Wolves shot 39.4% (13-33) from the field but hit just 3-of-12 long range shots. They were out-rebounded 18-12.

The Wolves had a fiery start to the second half, using a 12-2 run to take back the lead 42-41 at the 16:50 mark. The Warriors’ shooting cooled down considerably as Northern made a determined effort to challenge the outside shot. Hall sunk an 18-foot jumper at the 11:13 mark to put NSU up 45-51, their largest lead to that point, and forced a Winona timeout. Two WSU buckets in the paint and another three-pointer put the home team back up 52-51. The teams banged back and forth, trading the lead and fighting for ground in the waning minutes.

The Wolves gave up a six point lead and faced a tied 68-68 game with just over one minute remaining. Both Hall and Boepple hit both ends of a one-and-one to go up 68-72 before WSU’s Krueger converted an old fashioned three point play to set the game at 71-72 with 32 seconds on the clock. NSU’s Allison Johnson hit a shot from the charity stripe to give the Warriors 13 seconds to tie. WSU leading scorer Leslie Ross hit the back metal of a turnaround jumper and NSU secured both the rebound and the conference opening win 73-71.

Northern State finished the game shooting 44.8% (26-58) from the field. They connected on 15-of-18 free throws for 83.3%, including several key shots at the end of the game. The Wolves turned the ball over a season low six times on the night. Hall ( Altura, MN) led the Wolves with 19 points and seven rebounds, followed by Boepple ( Dickinson, ND) with 13 points, including 6-of-6 free throws. Becker (Beulah, ND) and Johnson ( Mt. Vernon, SD) each added 10 points.

Ross led the Warriors with 19 points and shot a perfect 11-of-11 from the charity stripe. Krueger added 11 points and Reimer led the team with six rebounds. The Warriors cooled to a 46.0% (23-50) shooting night from the field, but they stayed red hot from long range, hitting 12-of-21 (57.1%) shots from beyond the arc. WSU also took a slight rebounding edge with 31 boards to NSU’s 30.

The Wolves return to action tomorrow night as they take on Upper Iowa in Fayette, IA.

 

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