Dec. 9th, 2006 -Aberdeen, S.D.	1st	2nd	Final	Records
Southwest Minnesota State	20	18	38	3-4, 1-3 NSIC
Northern State University	37	46	83	9-1, 4-0 NSIC

 

Wolves Pound Mustangs 83-38

December 9, 2006
ABERDEEN, S.D. - Northern State's women's basketball team scored a season high 83 points and separated themselves by a 45 point margin in Saturday night's game against Southwest Minnesota State. The 83-38 win improves the Wolves to 4-0 in the NSIC and 9-1 overall. SMSU falls to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.

The Wolves were bogged down by a tough Mustangs defense in the opening minutes of the game but soon found enough holes to post 21 points on the board with a comfortable 12 point lead by the midpoint. The Mustangs struggled to get any offensive production, shooting in the teens throughout most of the half. An SMSU shooting draught came at just the time when the Wolves began warming up from the field, with NSU scoring 13 unanswered points in seven minutes. Their largest lead was 30-9 at the 3:56 mark, while the halftime score was set at 37-20.

NSU shot 48.5% (16-33) from the field in the first half while Southwest shot just 23.1% (6-26). SMSU's shot selection included a hefty amount of three-point attempts, where they connected on 5-of-13 shots (38.5%). NSU led in rebounds 21-18 and committed just seven turnovers to SMSU's 12.

SMSU's shooting average stayed low in the second half but the Mustangs created considerable trouble for Northern with full court pressure and an effective half court trap. Northern gave up multiple turnovers, but the Mustangs only managed to convert with a single bucket.

Once the pressure was removed, Northern went on a scoring spree until the clock expired. The NSU lead continued to get larger, exceeding the 40 point mark with three minutes left to play. The NSU bench gained valuable court time, with 19 players checking in for minutes. 17 of these players scored points in the game. Southwest scored just two points in the final four and a half minutes of the game.

The Wolves finished with an 83-38 win, the largest scoring difference this season and the most points posted by NSU this season. NSU shot 53.2% from the field (33-62) and kept SMSU to a 21.1% (12-57) shooting night. They out-rebounded the Mustangs by a 46-32 margin and forced 21 turnovers. Leading the way in scoring for the Wolves was Jessica Deinert with 12 points. She was the only NSU player to finish with double figures. Miranda Boepple topped all players with 11 rebounds and also had four assists.

Southwest Minnesota State was led in scoring by Megan Wittkop with eight points while Andrea Fennern had a team high six rebounds.

The Wolves will take on two non-conference opponents before returning to NSIC play. They will host Black Hills State on Dec. 16 and travel to South Dakota for a game on the 18th. Their final game of 2006 will be against Minnesota Duluth on December 29 here at Wachs Arena.

 

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