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St. Cloud State University
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NCC season starts out rough, tough for SCSU
By Drew Herron
Published:
Monday, January 20, 2003
The Huskies jump into the second semester of the school year with their work cut out for them.
After an up-and-down performance over the break, the short-handed Huskies will now need to turn to a collection of players to fill the void left by the season-ending knee injury to captain Jessica Abrahams.
Following Thursday night's 84-58 road loss at North Dakota, the Huskies are now 6-10 with a 1-4 conference record. Things don't appear like they'll get any easier. St. Cloud played well in the beginning of the first half, but things quickly soured for the Huskies as UND took the lead around the midway point of the opening half and never gave it up, leading 41-24 at halftime.
The Sioux's Becky Moen led all scorers with 19, and senior forward Jenny Boll added 17. Junior post Kris DeGroot led the Huskies with 15 while freshman guard Sascha Hansen contributed 10. The home victory was especially sweet for Sioux head coach Gene Roebuck, whose team earned him his 400th career victory.
Looking back, the break couldn't have started better. The Huskies posted three straight wins before falling to Northern Colorado in overtime Jan. 2 in the conference opener.
The Huskies first played host to Viterbo University on Dec. 18, but the Hawks soon found out that SCSU was anything but hospitable.
The women snapped a season-high five game losing streak with style as they hammered their way to a 99-53 victory. The Huskies shot 61 percent in the first half and led 50-22 at the break. Four Huskies found their way into double digit scoring, led once again by DeGroot who threw in a season-high 18 points and 7 boards.
Two days later, the Huskies traveled to Bemidji where they would claim their second win over the Beavers this season, but not without making things interesting.
The Huskies led by 10 at the half and Bemidji didn't have its first lead until late in the second when senior guard Crystal Jones hit a three at 2:42 to take a 65-62 lead. Jenson closed the gap to 65-64 and solid defense held the Beavers to just two points as they poured in their final bucket with just over a minute remaining. Clutch shooting ensured the Huskies would escape with a narrow 71-67 victory.
BSU led 67-64 with :37 remaining when Huschle hit a three-pointer to tie the game. After the Beavers turned the ball over, the Huskies called a timeout with :18 remaining to set up their play where it would be Huschle hitting a 23-footer to seal it. Huschle led all scorers with 18 points, and DeGroot added 14.
New Year's Eve brought the Huskies their third straight victory as the team traveled west and defeated Colorado School of Mines as a tune-up before conference play began. It was all Huschle and DeGroot leading the way once again as the two combined for 27 points in the 70-56 victory.
The Huskies and Bears opened the conference up with a bang in Greeley, Colo., with the Huskies eventually losing a close overtime shootout, 84-80, to the Bears. UNC held a 42-40 lead at the half after the Huskies went on an 8-2 run to narrow the gap in the fading minutes of the first.
The second half was back and forth and both teams had chances to put the other away in the closing minutes. However, with neither team making shots, overtime loomed. In the overtime session, UNC was able to pull away and claim victory, snapping SCSU's three-game winning streak. Huschle led the Huskies in scoring with a career-high 25 points.
In the final game of the road trip, the Huskies were soundly defeated by South Dakota and never seemed to get things going. With the game tied at 13, the Coyotes opened things up by going on a 25-5 run that created what proved to be an insurmountable lead. USD breezed through the second half leading by as much as 21 and never playing with less than a 10-point cushion.
The Huskies got their first conference win of the season in an 84-81 home victory over Augustana Jan. 10, overcoming a 16-point second half deficit. Late heroics by Huschle, Streed and DeGroot helped the Huskies chip away at the Vikings lead and ultimately claim victory.
As nice as it was to defeat a good Augustana team, the next night brought the Herculean task of playing host to the nation's top-ranked team in Division II, South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits came out hot, quickly establishing a lead and building on it as the game went on. The Huskies fell behind early and stayed there in 75-54 loss to the Jacks.
Holding a record of 1-4 in a very tough conference isn't enough, so the Huskies will need to get things going quickly before it's too late.
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