Women's college basketball: Bison tune up for test

By Jeff Kolpack

November 28, 2003 at 11:00 PM

North Dakota State is getting a dose of tradition this weekend. The Bison bombed a lesser-talented opponent on Friday night and will play a familiar foe from the East Coast tonight.

NDSU's 99-60 blowout over Chadron State (Neb.) before 1,836 fans at the Bison Sports Arena set up a meeting between two women's basketball rivals from two different parts of the country. NDSU, ranked 15th in the first Division II poll, will host No. 2-ranked Bentley College (Mass.) at 7:30 tonight in the finals of the Valley Imports Classic.

After starting the season with two losses, and playing the Eagles even for the first 10 minutes on Friday night, the Bison got down to business. Junior forward Lacey Johnson -- coming off a poor shooting weekend in losses to Minnesota-Duluth and Concordia-St. Paul -- led the way with an assortment of 3-pointers and leaning jumpers.

"We just came out aggressive from the start," Johnson said. "Last week, we got into foul trouble but tonight I think we played smarter and we were able to be more physical."

Leading 26-24, the Bison put this one to rest in the first half with 18 unanswered points. Johnson started it with a 3-pointer, then followed that with two free throws and a jumper and it was 33-24.

Johnson hit another 3-pointer later in the flurry. By the time she staggered to the bench from exhaustion just before halftime, she had all 16 of her points and all five of her rebounds.

The Bison lead, which was 55-35 at halftime, reached 30 points in the first five minutes of the second half. All 14 players who saw action for NDSU scored.

Katie Lorenz and Michelle Fricke followed Johnson with 15 points each. Backup center Danni Heintzelman chipped in 10 points.

"We needed to get some confidence in some kids who didn't score well last week," said NDSU head coach Amy Ruley. "We needed them to get on track."

It set up another meeting between NDSU and Bentley, who have played eight times over the years. The Bison have a 7-1 series lead, although most of those wins came during NDSU's run of national championships in the 1990s.

Bentley won two years ago when Johnson was a freshman. The Bison got back at the Falcons last year at a tournament in Florida.

"It has gotten to be a rivalry," Johnson said.

One thing is certain: Bentley will be a much tougher test than Chadron posed to NDSU. The Falcons are taller and possess three players who average in double figures.

"They're balanced, they do it all," Ruley said. "They have the inside and outside game."

Chadron had one thing going for it: the outside game of backup guard Dwan Hereford. She led the Eagles with 17 points.

But the Bison defense stuffed everybody else. And on offense, a return trip home helped cure the scoring woes.

"We needed this," Johnson said.

CHADRON (0-3): Hereford 6-12 1-2 17, Petty 3-7 2-2 9, Scherry 1-5 0-0 2, Erwin 0-3 1-2 1, Schreiber 2-9 2-2 6, Trepka 0-6 5-8 5, Caroselli 0-1 1-2 1, Fitzpatrick 1-2 0-0 2, Behrends 1-3 3-4 5, Cady 3-9 1-3 7, Cumings 0-1 2-4 2. Totals: 18-61 18-29 60.

NDSU (1-2): Krenz 2-5 0-0 5, Lorenz 7-14 0-0 15, Johnson 5-10 3-4 16, Froehlich 2-4 2-2 6, Fricke 5-8 4-6 15, Girodat 1-2 3-6 6, Kayla Dahlen 1-1 1-1 3, Katie Dahlen 2-6 0-0 4, Klabo 2-9 1-2 3, Heintzelman 4-5 0-2 10, Weingarten 1-3 0-0 3, Girodat 1-2 3-6 6, Schauer 2-2 0-0 5, Gibbs 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 36-73 16-24 99.

Halftime: NDSU 55, CSC 35. Total fouls: CSC 19, NDSU 22. Fouled out: none. Total rebounds CSC 35 (Petty 9); NDSU 54 (Fricke 9). 3-point goals: CSC 6-20 (Hereford 4-9, Petty 1-2, Scherry 0-3, Trepka 0-1, Erwin 0-1, Blaine 0-1, Fitzpatrick 1-1, Cumings 0-1); NDSU 11-23 (Krenz 1-3, Lorenz 1-4, Johnson 3-4, Fricke 1-2, Heintzelman 2-3, Froehlich 0-1, Weingarten 1-2, Girodat 1-2, Katie Dahlen 0-1, Schauer 1-1). Assists: CSC 11 (Trepka, Fitzpatrick 3); NDSU 27 (Krenz, Lorenz 6). Turnovers: CSC 19 (Erwin 3); NDSU 14 (Fricke 3). A-1,836.

Bentley College 77,

Western Washington 64

Forward Becky Davison scored 30 points and Bentley College (Mass.) surged to a 13-point halftime lead to take the victory in the first game of the Valley Imports Classic.

Shevon Gibbons had 11 of her 15 points in leading the Falcons to a 36-23 intermission advantage. Davison took it from there, scoring 25 of her points in the second half.

WESTERN (2-1): DeBoer 5-9 4-7 14, Donahue 2-10 0-0 5, McGillivray 9-18 0-0 19, Colard 8-16 0-0 21, Hubbard 1-4 0-0 3, Dressel 0-0 0-0 0, Dykstra 1-3 0-0 2, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Gerald 0-5 0-0 0. Totals: 26-65 4-7 64.

BENTLEY (3-1): Gibbons 5-8 5-7 15, Davison 9-14 10-11 30, Bonds 1-3 2-2 4, Flynn 5-13 2-2 15, DiPietro 0-2 0-0 0, Kirwan 1-3 3-6 5, Pietrocarlo 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 1-3 4-4 6, Longo 0-0 0-0 0, Kelley 1-4 0-0 2, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Truell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-51 26-32 77.

Halftime: BC 36, WW 23. Total fouls: WW 23, BC 15. Fouled out: Kelley. Rebounds: WW 31 (Donahue 6); BC 40 (Gibbons 8). 3-point goals: WW 8-21 (Donahue 1-5, McGillivray 1-1, Colard 5-8, Hubbard 1-3, Dykstra 0-1, Gerald 0-3); BC 5-15 (Davison 2-3, Flynn 3-9, Kirwan 0-2, Moore 0-1). Assists: WW 18 (Hubbard 8); BC 18 (Bonds 7). Turnovers: WW 23 (DeBoer, Donahue 6); BC 24 (Gibbons 7).

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546

By Jeff Kolpack

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough" and "Covid Kids." He is the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.