Weekly Release: UNC Women Qualify For NCC's Wells Fargo Finals; Bears To Battle Augustana In First Round Tuesday In Sioux Falls
This Week's ActionAugustana (19-7, 13-5)
Tues., Feb. 27, 2001
Elmen Center (4,000)
Sioux Falls, S.D., 6 p.m. (MT)
1310-AM KFKA (Mike Rice)
THE WEEK AHEAD: The UNC women's basketball season qualifed for the North Central Conference's Wells Fargo Finals. The Bears will be the tournament's No. 7 seed and play at No. 2 seed Augustana on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. (Mountain time). UNC defeated Nebraska-Omaha in the season's final game to clinch the playoff spot. The Bears (12-14 overall, 7-11 NCC) closed the regular season on a three-game winning streak. Augustana defeated North Dakota State and North Dakota on Friday and Saturday to claim the No. 2 seed in the tourney.
BEARS ON THE RADIO: All UNC women's basketball games will be broadcast live on KFKA-AM (1310). Mike Rice, "The Voice of the Bears", will call all of the play-by-play action. Tune into KFKA 15 minutes prior to tip-off to listen the Bears' Pregame Show hosted by Rice.
BEARS ON THE INTERNET: Fans outside the KFKA listening area may hear the live broadcast by logging onto uncbears.com, the "Official Web Site of UNC Athletics". Simply click the "Audio/Video" button and follow the instructions for picking up the live broadcast.
AUGUSTANA: The Vikings (19-7 overall, 13-5 North Central Conference) won a pair of games at home this past weekend against North Dakota and North Dakota State. Augustana used the two victories to vault from third place in the league to the No. 2 seed in the NCC Wells Fargo Finals. The Vikings have won 10 of their last 12 games, however included in that stretch was a 66-57 loss at Northern Colorado on Feb. 17. Augustana has been unbeatable at home this season as it has cruised to a 12-0 home mark in 2000-2001. The Vikings have compiled a home record of 36-5 over the past three seasons. Augustana is led in scoring by junior guard Tamara Oltmanns (16.2 ppg). Augustana is coached by Dave Krauth, who is in hits 12th season at the helm of the Vikings. Krauth has compiled a mark of 243-96 overall.
Northern Colorado Probable Starters No. Player Hgt. Pos. Yr. Hometown (Previous School) PPG RPG 22 Chyrisse Domenico 5-9 F Sr. Thornton, Colo. (Horizon) 2.3 1.8 42 Jill Fadenrecht 6-2 F So. Longmont, Colo. (Skyline) 10.8 6.7 51 Missy Borell 6-1 C So. Mahtomedi, Minn. (Mahtomedi) 17.8 9.9 14 Lisa Gangel 5-7 G Fr. Leawood, Kan. (St. Thom. Aqui.) 2.5 1.8 20 Julie Bentson 5-7 G Jr. Fargo, N.D. (Fargo South) 7.3 2.1Augustana Probable Starters No. Player Hgt. Pos. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG 32 Lonna Larson 5-6 F Jr. Vermillion, S.D. 5.1 3.2 33 Charissa Sheppard 6-0 F So. Flandreau, S.D. 9.0 8.0 45 Brittani Janssen 6-1 C Sr. DeSmet, S.D. 13.8 5.8 12 Tamera Oltmanns 5-10 G Jr. Lennox, S.D. 16.2 5.2 22 Nicole Tendler 5-10 G Sr. Sioux Falls, S.D. 13.7 4.6
WELLS FARGO FINALS: North Dakota has secured the No. 1 seed and will host the semifinals and finals of the Wells Fargo Finals. Augustana is seeded No. 2 and will play UNC in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Tuesday at 6 p.m. (Mountain time). No. 3 seeded North Dakota State will host No. 6 seeded South Dakota in Fargo, N.D., on Tuesday. No. 4 seeded St. Cloud State will host No. 5 seeded South Dakota State in St. Cloud, Minn., on Tuesday as well. The UNC-Augie winner will meet the NDSU-USD winner in one semifinal, while North Dakota will meet the winner of SCSU-SDSU. The semifinals will take place on Friday with the championship being played on Saturday night.
UNC HAS GONE O-FOR-AUGIE: UNC has played 13 times at Augustana and each time has come home on the short end of the scoreboard. Augustana is 13-0 against the Bears in Sioux Falls. Here is how the Bears have fared through the years at Augustana:
2001: Augustana 69-56 2000: Augustana 58-45 1999: Augustana 94-70 1998: Augustana 68-57 1997: Augustana 57-55 1996: Augustana 95-67 1995: Augustana 86-71 1994: Augustana 81-61 1993: Augustana 92-54 1992: Augustana 103-65 1991: Augustana 84-79 1990: Augustana 77-68 1982: Augustana 86-69
BEARS HIT HOT STREAK: With their backs against the wall, the Bears found a way to keep their season alive with a trio of victories to close the regular season. UNC pulled off victories over South Dakota State, Augustana and Nebraska-Omaha. All three victories came in the friendly confines of Butler-Hancock Hall.
SAUTER HITS BOARDS HARD: Sophomore Melissa Sauter grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds (10 on the defensive side of the ball) in Saturday's victory over Nebraska-Omaha. Her previous best had been eight, which had occurred on four different occasions.
DOMENICO DRAINS CAREER-BEST: In her final performance in Butler-Hancock Hall, senior Chyrisse Domenico drained a career-high 10 points. Domenico did most of her damage from the free throw line as she made all six of her shots from the charity stripe. Domenico has now made 25 of her last 26 free throws dating back to Dec. 1, 2000.
GANGEL'S FAVORITE OPPONENT: Freshman Lisa Gangel has found her favorite opponent in the North Central Conference. Back on Dec. 9 in Omaha, Gangel lit up the University of Nebraska-Omaha for a then career-high 10 points. Gangel drained both of her three-point shots in that contest. Then on Saturday, Gangel burst upon the scene again with a 13-point effort to set her career-high. She made three three-pointers against the Mavs in Greeley en route to her career-best effort.
BORELL HELD IN CHECK: For only the second time this season sophomore center Missy Borell was held to single-digits in points scored. She tallied only nine points in the victory over Nebraska-Omaha. South Dakota State held her to only nine points when the teams met in Brookings, S.D., on Jan. 20.
TWO BEARS EARN HONORABLE MENTION ALL-NCC: The University of Northern Colorado had two women's basketball players named to the Honorable Mention Academic All-North Central Conference team on Wednesday. Sophomores Jill Fadenrecht and Missy Borell. Fadenrecht, a native of Longmont, Colo., is majoring in kinesiology, while also averaging 10.6 points per game this season for the Bears. Borell, a native of Mahtomedi, Minn., is majoring pre-medicine, while scoring 18.1 points per game and grabbing 10.1 rebounds per game. Borell's numbers rank her second in the NCC in both categories.
UNC SETS SINGLE-GAME FREE THROW RECORD: The Bears drained 17 of 18 free throw attempts in Saturday night's game against Augustana. UNC hit 94.4 percent from the charity stripe to break the old record of 93.5 percent set last season against St. Cloud State.
HELD OUT WITH INJURY: Sophomore guard Kristi Held injured her right ankle at Minnesota State, Mankato and will miss the rest of the season. Held tore virtually every ligament in her ankle when she caught it on the new floor at MSU.
BORELL IS THE BEARS' LEADER: Sophomore Missy Borell, who was an honorable mention All-NCC pick last season, is staking a claim to the first-team honor this season by averaging 17.8 points per game and grabbing 9.9 rebounds per contest. Borell leads the Bears in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, steals and blocks. Her rebounding total ranks her 17th in the nation, while her scoring average ranks 33rd in NCAA Division II statistics.
BEARS ANNOUNCE EARLY SIGNING: The University of Northern Colorado women's volleyball squad and women's basketball squad have signed Lisa Samuelson to a National Letter-of-Intent to play for both teams at UNC. Samuelson, a native of Rifle, Colo., is an all-conference performer for Rifle High School in both volleyball and basketball. As a volleyball player, Samuelson was a three-time all-Western Slope Conference selection. She also earned first-team all-state honors as a senior in 2000 and second-team all-state honors as a junior in 1999. In basketball, Samuelson was a two-time all-Western Slope Conference selection and an all-state honorable mention pick in 1998. As a student Samuelson has excelled in the classroom as well. She is a three-year academic letterwinner and a two-year member of the National Honor Society.
UNC VS. NEBRASKA-OMAHA RECAP: With the three games remaining in the regular season, the UNC women's basketball team had its destiny in its own hands. The math was simple: Win the last three games and the Bears would earn the final spot in the North Central Conference Wells Fargo Finals postseason tournament. Head coach Erica Ledy and the Bears did just that, completing the trifecta Saturday afternoon with a 76-67 win over Nebraska-Omaha at Butler-Hancock Hall. The Bears started slowly in the game, going the first three minutes without a bucket. With her team trailing 5-0, freshman Lisa Gangel nailed a three-pointer to get the Bears on the board and jump start a 19-6 UNC run. The Bears' eight-point lead quickly dissipated as UNO reeled off an 8-0 run of its own. The score remained close the rest of the half and Jill Fadenrecht's two free throws with 56 seconds remaining in the half gave UNC a 28-26 advantage at the break. Early in the second half, the Bears were twice able to build the margin to seven, but the Mavericks were able to tie the score at 40-40 with 12:55 remaining. That's when the Bears turned it on. UNC promptly outscored Nebraska-Omaha 17-4 over the next four minutes with junior Julie Bentson hitting two treys in the run. UNC's lead never dipped below seven points over the final nine minutes of the game. UNC had a balanced attack offensively with four players reaching double figures. Gangel and senior Chyrisse Domenico notched career-highs with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Gangel hit 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Domenico was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Bentson added 13 points, while Fadenrecht led the Bears with 16 points. UNO's Jennifer Mitchell took game-high scoring honors with 23 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field.
NEW ERA FOR BEARS: Erica Ledy was hired as the women's basketball coach on May 9, replacing Greg Bruce, who took the head women's job at Cal-State Bakersfield. Ledy has compiled a mark of 141-129 over nine years at both Lake Superior State and Northwood (Mich.). Also new the staff this season is graduate assistant coach Melissa Blunt. UNC's top assistant, Heather Brite, is returning for her second season on the Bears' bench.