Women's Basketball News
Lady Rams Hoops Garners Spot in Top 10 Poll
Posted on 12/12/07 by Trey Meadows, NCU Sports Information
Despite a short bench and a difficult opening schedule, the Lady Rams will go into the holiday break as the number seven ranked team in the NCCAA DII Women's Basketball Poll.
Currently, the Rams are 3-4 with two of their losses coming from NCAA DIII Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, Minn). Two weeks ago, NCU claimed an 11-point victory over ninth-ranked NCCAA Northland Baptist Bible College (Dunbar, Wis). That win served notice that though the Rams have only seven players on their roster, they will be a team to reckon with in the second half of the season.
The Lady Rams are also showing their strength in the national stats standings. NCU is currently the number one team in the NCCAA in rebounds per game, averaging more than 52 boards a contest. The Rams are currently fourth in rebound margin, out-rebounding opponents by over 14 boards a game. Defense is also a strong point for the Lady Rams thus far as they are eighth in scoring defense, third in defensive scoring percentage, and first in defensive three-point shooting percentage. They are also second in blocks per game with over five per outing.
Team statistics are often the result of several strong individual performances,and the Lady Rams are strong on that front as well. Junior center Naomi Sanon (Boston, Mass.) is an early season candidate for National Player of the Year. Sanon is in the top 10 in four statistical categories. She is the national leader in blocks and rebounds per game, averaging over three swats and more than 15 boards per contest. The Boston native is also 10th in field goal percentage, shooting better than 51 percent from the field. She averages over 19 points a game, placing her sixth in that category.
Sanon's teammates are also strong on the boards, with freshman forward Charity Bowers (Milwaukee, Wis.) and senior forward Amy Sletten (Fergus Falls, Minn.) 14th and 25th in rebounds, averaging more than 10 and eight rebounds per game, respectively. Bowers is also 18th in assists per game, averaging four per contest. Junior guard Robyn Wenstrom (Hartland, Wis.) is shooting well from the outside and is currently 12th in three-point shooting percentage with a 40 percent mark on the season.
The Lady Rams will be away from the court until January 4 when they host the annual NCU Alumni Scrimmage. On Saturday, January 5, NCU opens the second half of their schedule on the road at UM-Morris. Tip-off at is set at 1pm.
Sanon Named NCCAA DII Women's Basketball Player of the Week
Posted by Trey Meadows, NCU Sports Information, 12/10/07
North Central is proud to anounce that Naomi Sanon has been named the NCCAA DII Women's Basketball Player of the Week. The following is the official release from the NCCAA.
Summary for Recipient: Naomi Sanon, Junior Center for the Lady Rams of North Central University helped her team to a perfect 3-0 week by defeating Pillsbury Baptist Bible
College 64-30, Providence College 51-36, and Northland Baptist Bible College
55-44. After 5 games she is averaging 19.6 ppg, 15.4 rpg, and 3.6 bpg.
Sanon is the national leader in rebounds while standing second in points per game. She also ranks in the top five in field goal percentage and blocks per contest.
Depth, Turnovers Sink Women’s Basketball, Will Play for 7th Place Saturday
LAKELAND, Fla. - For the second time in as many nights, the Rams’ women’s basketball team started slowly and a lack of depth sealed the defeat, as #5 Dallas Christian College (Dallas, Texas) defeated North Central by a score of 83-59.
Freshman Keelie Solomon (Havre, Mont.) paced the Rams (15-14) with 19 points, while sophomore Emily Matson (Milwaukee, Wis.) added seven points and ten rebounds.
After managing just one point off of the bench in Thursday’s 67-40 loss against #1 Kentucky Christian College (Grayson, Ky.), the Rams’ bench managed only 13 points, while Dallas (17-10) boasted a whopping 46 points - more than half their point total - from the pine.
North Central committed 24 turnovers during the contest, and Dallas Christian committed 22. However, despite the apparent parity, the Crusaders scored 30 points off turnovers while the Rams managed just 16 points.
Freshman Danielle Aguilar (Harligen, Texas) led all scorers with 23 points for the Crusaders.
North Central will play for seventh place in the tournament tomorrow at 2.00pm EST against #3 Baptist Bible College (Clarks Summit, Pa.), a fellow NCAA III school from the North East Athletic Conference.
Sletten Named Second-Team All-American
LAKELAND, Fla. - Junior Amy Sletten (Fergus Falls, Minn.) was named an NCCAA-II Second Team All-American at the annual women’s basketball awards banquet Wednesday evening.
Sletten, the Rams’ starting shooting forward and leading scorer, is currently averaging 15.2 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Prior to the Rams’ loss against Kentucky Christian College (Grayson, Ky.), Sletten had put together a string of four consecutive double-doubles: 14 points and 12 rebounds in a 67-48 loss February 15 to Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.), 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 69-51 victory over Trinity Bible College (Ellendale, N.D.) in the second round of the North Central regional tournament, a career-high 29 points and 13 rebounds in a 71-59 win over Providence College (Otterburne, Manitoba) in the North Central Regional championship game, and finally 13 points and 10 rebounds in a 53-50 victory over Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) in the preliminary round of the NCCAA national tournament.
Sletten has put together two other strings of double-doubles this season, including three games from January 30 until February 5, and back-to-back games January 12 and 13.
Sletten is one of the Rams’ team captains, and provides consistent leadership both on and off the court. She is an elementary education major and one day hopes to teach elementary school and coach youth sports.
North Central University congratulates Amy Sletten on this prestigious honor.
Located in downtown Minneapolis, Minn. since 1930, North Central University is a coeducational, undergraduate college owned and operated by the 11 Assemblies of God districts of the upper Midwest. Visit www.northcentral.edu for more details or call (612) 343-4400.
Women’s Basketball Suffers Rough Outing Against #1 Kentucky Christian
LAKELAND, Fla.–While a major winter storm forced the cancellation of a day and a half’s worth of classes at their campus, the North Central University women’s basketball team enjoyed the warm sunshine of west central Florida.
Unfortunately, the sunshine was about the only bright spot for North Central Thursday night, as the #8 Rams were dominated by the #1 seeded Kentucky Christian College (Grayson, Ky.) 67-40 in the first round of the 2007 NCCAA-II National Tournament.
Freshman Keelie Solomon (Havre, Mont.) led North Central with 17 points, while sophomore Naomi Sanon (East Boston, Mass.) added eight points and 12 rebounds.
The Lady Knights jumped out to a commanding 16-5 lead in the opening seven minutes of the game. Kentucky Christian took a 36-20 into the locker room at halftime and they never looked back, cruising to the 67-40 victory.
North Central was never able to solve the Knights’ man-to-man, pressure-style defense. The Rams shot just 27% - including a miserable 2-for-15 behind the arc - for the contest.
Additionally, the Rams’ leading scorer, junior Amy Sletten (Fergus Falls, Minn.) shot just 2-for-11 from the field and 3-for-8 from the line for only seven points - which tied a January 15 contest against Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) for her lowest point output of the year. To add insult to injury, the Knights forced the Rams’ shooting forward into nine turnovers.
Despite her out-of-character performance, on Wednesday night at the annual Women’s Basketball Banquet, Sletten was named to the NCCAA-II All-American Second Team.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 15-13 of the season, and see their perfect record against NCCAA-II opponents drop to 14-1. North Central now moves into the consolation bracket, and will face #5 seeded Dallas Christian College (Dallas, Texas) at 4:00PM EST Friday.
Women’s Basketball Wins First Game at Nationals
LAKELAND, Fla. - By holding on to their three-point victory over #9 Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Mo.) Tuesday evening, the #8 North Central Rams made history by making it out of the preliminary round of the NCCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The 53-50 victory was the Rams’ first victory at the NCCAA National Tournament since an 89-77 victory over Clearwater Christian College (Clearwater, Fla.) on March 8, 1997. In the ten years since, the Rams have played five games in two different national tournaments, dropping all of them.
Junior Amy Sletten (Fergus Falls, Minn.) has come on at the right time for North Central, compiling her eighth double-double in the last ten contests with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Naomi Sanon (East Boston, Mass.) continued her torching of NCCAA opponents with 10 points and 19 rebounds. In 14 games against NCCAA-II opponents this season, Sanon is averaging 10.6 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. Freshman Keelie Solomon (Havre, Mont.) added 12 points and sophomore Phebe Carr (Becker, Minn.) added a career-high ten points.
North Central held Ozark to just 14.7% from the floor in the first half, and subsequently took a 29-14 lead into the locker room at the half. But sophomore Chrissy Lahm scored 14 of her 16 points for the Lady Ambassadors in the second half, and Kentucky trimmed North Central’s lead to just one, 51-50, with seconds remaining. But Sletten hit a last-second field goal from eight feet to put the Rams on top for good.
Lahm led all scorers with 16 points and she also grabbed 12 boards for the Ambassadors. Breann Stephens added 12 boards and six points, while Megan Geriss scored 11 points and had eight rebounds.
North Central will now turn its attention to the #1 seeded Kentucky Christian College. That game will tip off on Thursday at 6:00PM Eastern Standard Time. The last time North Central and Kentucky Christian squared off was on March 4, 1995, in the NCCAA-II National Championship Game. Kentucky prevailed in that contest by a score of 84-70.
Women’s Basketball Takes Home Regional Banner
After trailing by six points at halftime, the North Central women’s basketball team rallied for a 71-63 victory over Providence in the North Central Region championship game on Saturday, February 17. Junior forward Amy Sletten led the charge with 29 points and 13 rebounds on her way to being named first team all-region.
“We were really focused and talked a lot about teamwork coming into the game,” said Sletten, who averaged 24.5 points and 11 rebounds in two tournament games.
With seven minutes remaining in the game, the Lady Rams forged a tie, then went on the decisive 9-0 run to bring the score to 68-59 at the 4:16 mark. Assistant coach Sarah Abbott said she knew if the Lady Rams could catch Providence, they would take control.
“I was a little nervous when we lost our intensity and some confidence in the first half,” said Abbott, who played for current Head Coach Shayla Yeackley two years ago. “But I knew when we tied the game and took the lead, we had the game. At that point, I was like ‘ok, I’ve seen this team come back all year and they can do it again.’”
And that’s exactly what they did, finishing the game and winning the region for the first time since 2002.
“We really capitalized on opportunities in the second half when we started to get some calls go our way,” Sletten said. “We know that they [Providence] fights hard and tries to get us out of sync, but we played our game came out on top.”
Sophomore center and rebound-machine Naomi Sanon was named to the tournament’s second team as she racked up 33 rebounds in two games, just 10 of them coming against Providence. Freshman guard Keelie Solomon poured in 20 points in both games and was conspicuously left off the all tournament teams while junior guard Stephanie Koopman garnered an honorable mention award for her contributions.
In addition to winning her first region championship, Head Coach Shayla Yeackley was named the North Central Region coach of the year for the second time in three seasons.
“She has really improved from the first year, she’s more confident and outspoken about what she wants the team to do,” Abbott said. “After playing for her, I can tell she has grown and her level of expertise has increased.”
The Lady Rams now advance to the national tournament, where they will face representatives of the other seven regions in an attempt to bring home the first basketball championship since 1986-87, when the Lady Rams scored their second consecutive NBCAA national championship. Even if the team is unable to finish the season with a championship, the Lady Rams will not lose anyone from this year’s squad and will look to dominate again in 2007-08.
The national tournament will be played from February 28-March 3 in Lakeland, Fla.
–Jamaal Gilbert