NKU captures NCAA Division II national championship in overtime; Norse primed for repeat run

(This article was originally published on March 27, 2000)

By Sean Keeler

Post staff reporter

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team, coming off a 2000 NCAA Division II national championship Saturday, has more than enough pieces coming back this fall to make a repeat run.

NKU returns all five starters from this season's national champion. The roster is composed of four juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen.

While the program has maintained a standard of excellence — a 62-5 record over the last two seasons, 32 wins this year — the Norse know they've become an extra-special marquee game for their opponents next season.

“We already know we have a big target on our backs for next season,” said junior guard Michele Tuchfarber, who had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in a 71-62 overtime win over North Dakota State.

It’s a role that was more familiar to the favored Bison, whose program had won five national titles. In the only previous meeting between NKU and the Bison, North Dakota State won handily, 68-48, at the 1990 Perkins/NKU Classic.

But none of that mattered Saturday.

The strengths of the young Norse, who lost six seniors from last year's Final Four team and didn't miss a beat, were on display against the bigger and more veteran Bison. There were three major reasons NKU won the national championship this season, all of which came into play against North Dakota State:

1. Michelle Cottrell.

Big players step up in big games — and this was NKU’s biggest.

Cottrell notched her 12th double-double of the season with 23 points and 19 rebounds, both game highs.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore forward from Boone County High School seemed to be everywhere around the ball, especially in the second half. She had 10 points and 12 boards in the final 20 minutes of regulation, helping the Norse rally from a 33-29 halftime deficit, and she scored the first four points in overtime.

“You need her to do anything for this team, she'll do it,” said Tuchfarber.

Cottrell, the Norse’s leading scorer (17.2 points per game going into Saturday) and rebounder (9.1 per game), stepped up her play in the postseason. She averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds in the Great Lakes Region Tournament and 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in two games at the Final Four.

2. Consistent outside shooting.

NKU only took 11 3-pointers against the Bison and made four, but they were timely. The Norse stuck to the inside as much as possible, but some big outside shots late in the second half helped swing the game for NKU.

Freshman forward Amy Mobley stepped up and drained a trey from the right corner with 9:31 left in the game that tied the score at 44.

Junior point guard Heather Livingstone put the Norse up, 51-49, on a trey from the top of the key with 6:46 left in the game. It capped a 17-8 run.

NKU came into the game as one of the better long-distance shooting teams in the country. The Norse went into the title game having made good on 43.7 percent of their treys (190-of-435), No. 2 in Division II; Livingstone's 48.8 percentage (59-of-121) was second in the nation to Wayne State’s Krista Bernadt (55.3 percent).

3. Tenacious defense.

The Bison went into the championship averaging 82.6 points and shooting 44.9 percent from the floor.

Against NKU's aggressive, man-to-man defense, they went ice cold - 33.9 percent from the floor (21-of-62) and a frigid 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) on three-pointers.

The Bison were held without a field goal for the last 5:38 and were 0-for-11 from the floor in overtime.

North Dakota State All-American forward Jayne Even, who came into the game averaging 20.9 points and 9.6 rebounds, was held to 14 points and 10 rebounds. She shot just 5-of-18 from the floor, much of the time with Cottrell chasing her around the court.

“They played good, in-your-face type defense,” Even said. “They were kind of bodying us underneath, but that’s how the game goes.”

Physical defense was a trademark — and a stellar one — all season long. Coming into Saturday's game, NKU opponents shot just 36.9 percent from the floor and turned it over 652 times to the Norse's 586.

Said North Dakota State coach Amy Ruley: “We just couldn't seem to get anything going offensively. I felt lucky to stay with them in the first half; in the second half, the bottom fell out offensively.”