OREM, Utah - In true Fighting Sioux fashion, four players finished in double-figures as top-ranked North Dakota knocked off fourth-seed South Dakota 70-60 and advanced to the championship game of the 2009-10 Great West Conference Tournament.
With the win, UND (17-13, 11-1 GWC) extended its winning streak to 11 games and improved both its overall record (47-21) and postseason record (5-2) against the Coyotes (15-16, 6-6 GWC).
"You don't know how it is going to be when you're sitting in a hotel for three days," head coach Gene Roebuck said. "I thought our players came out with a lot of energy. Knowing that we were playing South Dakota we stepped our game up. They pretty much had their way with us in Grand Forks so our players were fired up to meet the challenge."
The only player to play the full 40 minutes, senior Jossy Bergan led the Sioux in scoring with 18 points. The Valley City, N.D., native banked nine points from beyond the arc and was 5-for-5 from the free throw line. With 11 points, Bergan was the only player in double-figures heading into the halftime break.
Fellow senior Kayla Bagaason finished with 17 points for her 14th straight game in double-digits. Also extending their double-figure scoring streaks were junior Mallory Youngblut and senior Whitney Ledger.
Youngblut, a native of Davenport, Iowa, has now finished in double-figures in the last eight games. With the addition her 15 point, 10 rebound (six defensive) finish, she has doubled-up four times this season, three times in the last four games.
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Ledger finished with 13 points for her sixth-straight game in double-figures. She had an impressive performance on the boards nabbing a total of nine rebounds, six on the offensive. On several occasions, Ledger pulled down the offensive board and then put the ball back up for the score.
Both Ledger and Bagaason tallied a pair of blocked shots.
Both teams finished pretty even across the line, but the Sioux held a slight 40-33 rebounding advantage.
"That really wasn't a great game for us when we played South Dakota at The Ralph," Bagaason said. "We were a little slow that day, but I definitely think we were ready to play this game. When they beat us, we all had that sitting in the back of our minds. We've been sitting in the hotel for three days, but all of us have been ready to play since our last game. It felt like we were all together and on the same page. We were fired up, ready to go and it was great to come away with a win today."
With 16 points, Amber Hegge was the scoring leader for South Dakota. Kara Iverson scored all but one of her 13 points from three-point range and Annie Roche finished with 12 points.
The Fighting Sioux will play the winner of No. 2 Texas-Pan American and No. 6 Utah Valley on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. (central).
North Dakota scored the first bucket of the game, a three-pointer by Bagaason at 19:42 and from then on out, South Dakota never came any closer than two points. With another three from Bagaason, one from Youngblut and a field goal from Bergan the Sioux led 11-2 just four minutes into the game.
South Dakota used a 9-2 run to cut the lead down to two with 12:51 on the clock, but was unable to tie or take over the lead. The Coyotes chipped it down to a field goal twice more, but with five strikes from behind the arc and a three-point play at the free throw line, UND took a 39-30 lead into the halftime break.
The Sioux opened the second half with four quick points to lead 43-30 with 18:36 on the clock. With an 11-4 run, USD knocked the UND advantage back into the single-digits, but the Sioux quickly regained the double-digit lead.
"At the half we talked about getting out on shooters and staying out on them because they hit a few at the end of the first half," Bagaason said. "We had to come out with the same tenacity as we had in the first half. We weren't knocking down shots, but we were working our butts off. It's the little things that always add up when you're not hitting shots."
Starting with a field goal from Bergan at 10:35, the Sioux used a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 62-45. Their 17-point lead inside the seven-minute mark would prove to be the largest of the game.
The Coyotes cut the lead to eight with 2:47 left in the game, but were unable to claw their way any further.
GAME NOTES: The win extended North Dakota's winning streak to 11 games ... The Fighting Sioux have had at least one player with a double-double in the past four games ... Kayla Bagaason is now the 28th member of UND's 1,000 Point Club and is listed as the program's 21st-highest scorer with 1,099 career points. With her 17 points today, she surpassed Tracey Pudenz (1,089; 1990-94) and Danye Guinn (1,098; 2004-09). Bagaason is No. 2 in single-season three-pointers made (80), fifth in career three-pointers made (184), third in single-season three-point attempts (196), and 10th in career three-pointers attempted (457). Bagaason has scored double-figure in the last 14-straight games ... Jossy Bergan is ranked fifth in career three-pointers attempted (508), she is No. 8 on UND's career three-pointers made (173), and is sixth in single-season three-pointers attempted (188) ... Whitney Ledger has finished in double-figure in the past six games. Ledger is listed No. 8 in career free throws attempted (478) and is 10th in career free throws made (295) ... Mallory Youngblut has registered double-figures in the last five games and in 13 of the last 15 ... The Fighting Sioux lead the all-time series over the Coyotes 47-21 (26-8 home, 19-13 away, 2-0 neutral). UND also leads the postseason series with a record of 5-2 ... North Dakota now holds an NCAA Division I transition record of 35-24 and a 121 record in the Great West Conference ... Since the start of the transition, the Sioux are 6-0 in the month of March and 5-2 when playing on a Friday ... The Fighting Sioux are 768-281 all-time and 592-117 under head coach Gene Roebuck.
- Go Sioux -
