SMSU Athletics

The 2001-02 women’s basketball team was a talented and experienced group that dealt with high expectations and exceeded them in a major way, capturing a second straight NSIC regular season title, winning the program’s first-ever NSIC Tournament championship and making the deepest run into a national tournament in team history.

Under the direction of head coach Kelly Kruger, SMSU was picked to finish third in the NSIC preseason coaches’ poll, despite the fact the 2000-01 squad won the NSIC title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. SMSU had high expectations in 2001-02 and opened the season winning 10 of its first 13 games, including a 5-0 start in NSIC play. The Mustangs would suffer a tough stretch in the month of January, losing four of seven games to drop out of first-place in the NSIC standings.

However, the team rebounded in a major way in the month of February to rally and win the NSIC championship. Following a Feb. 1 loss at Northern State, SMSU bounced back the next night with a resounding victory at Minnesota-Morris. The victory started a streak of six straight wins to close the regular season and earn the program its fourth league title in team history. The winning streak also helped move the team into conversation for making an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

SMSU put away any doubt about making the NCAA postseason by dominating all three opponents in the NSIC Tournament to win the title and earn the NSIC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. SMSU opened the NSIC Tournament in Marshall with an 87-22 win over Minnesota-Morris, before heading to St. Paul and cruising past MSU Moorhead, 84-57, in the semifinals. SMSU closed the tournament run with a 63-48 championship game victory over Minnesota Duluth. Shelli Schoeneck (MVP), Regan French and Michelle Bruns were all named to the NSIC All-Tournament team.

SMSU would earn the No. 6 seed in the six-team North Central Regional Tournament held in Grand Junction, Colo., and face No. 3 seed Nebraska-Kearney in the first round. Amy Boman scored 18 points with nine rebound to lead SMSU to a 67-57 win in the opening round, before Boman scored 18 points with Bruns grabbing 12 rebounds to pace SMSU to a 66-57 upset win over No. 2 seed and perennial Division II power North Dakota in the semifinals.

SMSU would battle No. 4 seed South Dakota State in the region championship game with the winner advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight. SMSU would hold a 27-26 halftime advantage and later trailed 40-38 with 11 minutes remaining in the game, but a 12-0 run by SDSU over a four-minute stretch doomed SMSU in a 62-50 loss. Both Boman and Bruns were named to the NCAA region all-tournament team.

SMSU closed the season 24-8 overall, 14-4 NSIC, and finished ranked No. 21 in the final WBCA Top 25 poll.