Wednesday, March 22, 2000
No. 2 NKU meets No. 1
Norse play St. Rose in Women's Division II Elite Eight
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer contributor
The matchup is the one everyone in NCAA Division II women's basketball wanted to see. Just not so soon.
The nation's No.2 team, Northern Kentucky University, meets undefeated and top-ranked College of St. Rose in an Elite Eight quarterfinal game at 9:30 p.m. today in Pine Bluff, Ark.
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NKU ALL-AMERICAN
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NKU sophomore forward Michelle Cottrell (Boone County) has been named NCAA Division II Kodak All-American. Cottrell has led the Norse to a 29-2 record and a berth in the Division II Elite Eight by averaging 17.4 points and 9.3 rebounds. She was named Great Lakes Valley Conference co-Player of the Year.
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“It was predetermined,” NKU coach Nancy Winstel said. “They know well in advance which region is going to play which. They don't seed the Elite Eight, but when you get to this point, you've got to play great teams, no matter what. You have to take what you get.”
What 29-2 NKU gets is a 34-0 team from Albany, N.Y., that was ranked fourth nationally in preseason and won the Northeast Region championship. The Golden Knights, under 11th-year coach Curt Bailey, lead the nation in scoring defense (51.9 avg.) and average scoring margin (plus-31.0).
“They are very athletic,” said Winstel, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division II national coach of the year. “They play a lot of man-to-man defense, and they're very active. They move and do a great job on the boards. They get after you. You have to protect the ball and be patient, but you have to get your shots, too.”
St.Rose, making its first Elite Eight appearance, is led by two players from the Congo who played for Zaire in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.
Ngalula Nana Lukengu, 22, is a 6-foot sophomore forward and finalist for Division II All-America honors. She is a two-time New York Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the year, and already has reached 1,000 career points. She leads the Golden Knights in scoring with an average of 15.6 points.
Her running mate is 6-2 junior center Mbuyi Mukendi, 24, who leads St.Rose with an average of 7.8 re bounds a game, 48 blocked shots and a .552 field-goal percentage.
“We haven't played a team that big this season,” Winstel said. “Northern Michigan was pretty big. They have a 6-3 player, but she wasn't anywhere near as athletic as those two, and St.Rose has more than two players.”
The Golden Knights also depend on 5-5 senior guard Colleen Sheridan, a second-team all-region pick. St.Rose's 34 consecutive wins are a Division II record, and it has tied Fort Hays State's 9-year-old record for single-season victories.
NKU, ranked second nationally in field-goal percentage (.488) and 3-point percentage (.449), has a 21-game winning streak.
“We'll have our hands full,” Winstel said. “They're very good. They've beaten some really good teams. They're legitimate. They're deserving of their recognition.”
The St. Rose-NKU winner will meet the winner of the Western Washington/Slippery Rock (Pa.) game in the national semis at 9p.m. Friday. The championship game is scheduled for 4:30p.m. Saturday.
Seven of the Elite Eight teams are ranked among the top 25 in the Division II national poll, including No.3 North Dakota State, No.5 Delta State (Miss.), No.8 Emporia State (Kan.), No.13 Western Washington and No.25 Slippery Rock. Columbus State (Ga.) is unranked.
NKU, which beat Northern Michigan to win the Great Lakes Region title, is making its third Elite Eight appearance and second in a row. The Norse reached the semis last year before falling to Arkansas Tech 62-57.
“Hopefully, that experience will help some,” Winstel said. “The fact that we have so many new players might negate that.”
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