It was an earlier-than-hoped for exit from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Basketball Tournament for the Northern State women.
The fourth-seeded Wolves were eliminated 86-75 by Southwest Minnesota State Sunday, March 3 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
The Mustangs took advantage of subpar Northern defense in the first half, and the Wolves could never fully recover.
Northern ended its season 20-9 overall and 16-6 in NSIC regular season play.
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“Fourteen people in that locker room believed in each other, believed in us as coaches, played for each other every game and gave everything they had. They are the definition of selfless,” said Northern head coach Paula Krueger. “I sat in front of each of our seniors and looked them in the face and told them how important they were to this program. The foundation they helped lay and sacrifice they made will not go unnoticed, I can promise you that.”
Shooting the ball was not the issue for the Wolves, it was getting stops on the defensive end.
The Mustangs went hoop for hoop with Northern in the first quarter, taking a 24-22 lead. They outscored the Wolves 21-15 in the second quarter and shot 54.8% from the floor in the half, making 17 of 31 shots from the field.
Madison Gelhoff made a three-pointer and two free throws in the final two minutes of the half to give Southwest a 45-37 lead. Â She then opened the third period with another three to push the margin to 11.
“Coach (Tom) Webb’s MO has always been dribble-drive, getting downhill and kicking-out if there are open looks for threes, and they were able to do that today,” said Northern head coach Paula Krueger. “Defensively, you have to commit to either taking the paint away or the three-pointer away… We never really took the paint away and gave up 10 threes. Defensively we just weren’t good enough.”
Down 58-45 in the last two minutes of the third quarter, the Wolves went on a 9-0 run, largely powered by Maddie Bragg, to crawl within four. Following a missed Southwest shot, Northern lost a rebound out of bounds with five seconds left or would have had a chance to trim the deficit even more.
Bri Stoltzman made Northern pay with a bucket at the buzzer to push the lead back to six.
The Mustangs opened the fourth quarter on a baby 6-2 run, which proved to be enough to keep the Wolves at bay the rest of the way.
Stoltzman paced Southwest with 30 points and six assists.
“She’s a heck of a guard, and we knew that coming in,” Krueger said. “Alayna (Benike) at times made things a little difficult for her, but she’s a very good offensive player.”
Northern finished the game shooting 28 of 67 for 42%, but made just one of 10 three-pointers.
Bragg led the Wolves with a game-high 32 points and eight rebounds, going 10 of 20 from the field. Rianna Fillipi added 14 points and Benike 10.
“Maddie is who she is. The sky is the limit for her,” Krueger said. “When you can put someone in the paint like that and put pieces around her that have the ability to score, you’re going to be trouble for a lot of teams. It’s a crappy feeling that we just couldn’t make enough stops today.”
Northern men finish basketball season with worth record since ’70s
The roughest Northern State men’s basketball season in decades came to an ugly end Feb. 28 in the opening round of the NSIC men’s tournament.
Winona State used an early 12-0 run to take control of the game and cruise to a 95-65 victory in Winona, Minn.
The Wolves finished the season 10-19, their worst mark since going 12-24 in 1978-79.
A layup by Connor Dillon with 13:55 left in the first half put the Warriors up  17-7, and the Wolves never truly threatened.
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Winona led by as many as 15 in the first half and was up 42-29 at the break.
An 8-0 run in the second half, capped by a pair of free throws by Declan Dillon, pushed the Warriors’ lead to 63-42.
Winona scored 14 points off turnovers, shot 53.6% from the field and 58.3% from three-point range, and made all seven free throw attempts to advance to the NSIC quarterfinals.
Olumide Adelodun led the way with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Connor Dillon added 25 for the Warriors.
Josh Dilling paced Northern with 31 points. Jacksen Moni added 14, but nobody else reached double digits.
Moni, Dilling named to all-conference team
Moni was named to the All-NSIC First Team. The junior led the Wolves, averaging 21.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He scored the 1000th point of his career this season and currently sits 19th all-time in school history with 1,527 career points. This is the third straight season the Fargo, N.D., native has been selected to the all-conference team.
Dilling was named to the NSIC Second Team. He averaged 18.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game and shot a team-best 52.3% from the floor and 46.1% from three-point range. He also scored his 1,000th career college point this season.
Bragg, Fillipi honored on All-NSIC women’s team
Bragg and Fillipi were named to the women’s All-NSIC First Team.
Bragg led the Wolves, averaging 17.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The sophomore from Aberdeen added a team-best 48 blocks, along with 34 steals. In NSIC play, she was third in scoring, field goal percentage and blocked shots and eighth in rebounding.
Fillipi, a junior, helped power the Northern offense with 139 assists, an average of five per game. She led the NSIC with a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. She scored her 1,000th career point this season and finished the year with 1,798.
Three Northern wrestlers advance to DII national tournament
Three Northern State wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Division II Wrestling National Championships by placing in the top four at the Super Region V tournament Saturday, March 2 in Minot, N.D.
Seth Brossard, a graduate student in his final season, went 4-0 to win the individual championship at 174 pounds. He’s rankled third nationally in his weight class.
At 157 pounds, Devin Bahr, also a graduate student, advanced to the championship match and placed second. He’s now 17-5 on the season and ranked ninth in his weight class. Â Redshirt freshman Chase Bloomquist finished third at 165 pounds to qualify for the national meet, which is March 15 and 16 in Wichita, Kan. He has a 19-12 record.
The Wolves placed fifth in the team race. St. Cloud State won the conference crown.
Grebner qualifies for national swimming championships
Northern State swimmer and Aberdeen native Lilly Grebner will compete in three events at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.
Grebner qualified in the 200-yard butterfly, the 200 individual medley and the 400 individual medley.
The meet is Tuesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 16 in Geneva, Ohio.
A sophomore, Grebner also qualified for the national meet last year.
She will swim in the 200 individual medley on March 13, the 400 individual medley March 14 and the 200 butterfly on March 15.
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Heading into the meet, Grebner is ranked 27th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.32, 32nd in the 400 IM with a time of 4:27.10 and 15th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:02.54.
Northern State’s Tremelling to compete in pole vault at Division II national meet
Northern State pole vaulter Sam Tremelling  will compete in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The junior enters the national meet with the 12th-best height of the season at 5.06 meters. That’s a Northern indoor track and field record.
The national meet is Saturday, March 9 in Pittsburg, Kan.
Northern splits four baseball games with Truman State
The Northern State baseball team split a four-game series with Truman State over the weekend in Missouri. The Wolves lost 4-5 on Friday, won 3-2 and lost 4-1 on Saturday, March 2, and logged a 11-7 victory on Sunday.
During Saturday’s first game, Karson Hesser had a two-run double in the fourth inning. He then scored on a fielder’s choice by Drew Benson to give the Wolves the lead. Cooper Tessendorf pitched four and a third innings to get his first win.
Sunday, the Wolves built an 11-0 lead and held on to win. Two errors and a wild pitch helped Northern score five runs in the fourth inning. Michael Benevides and Jackson Meyer both finished with two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Drew Burkholder pitched five scoreless innings to pick up his second win of the season.
The Wolves are 4-4 and next open NSIC play with a four-game series against Minnesota State, Mankato next weekend in Sioux Falls.