![]() Winstel sized up Saint Rose with two of her assistants: Brian Neal, who's now the head women's basketball coach at Xavier, and Chris Gramke, now the varsity girls' hoops coach at Beechwood. 2 NKU for the right to move to the Final Four. The tournament was not seeded at the time, so it was No. Despite trailing in every game of the regional, they punched their ticket to the Elite Eight in Arkansas - only to face Saint Rose, the No. While the Norse's record remained pristine after Bellarmine, they had their share of scares along the way. Cottrell was named Most Valuable Player in the tournament. NKU's Michelle Cottrell drives to the basket in the 2000 NCAA Division II national championship game. NKU (32-2, 19-1 GLVC) won 24 straight outings en route to the national title. The team never lost another game that season. I can still remember 16 years later how upset I was, and (the players) were upset, and I think we just felt so bad that we didn't want to feel that way again." "We were rolling along and winning by 15 or plus, and in the second half we played terribly," Winstel said. The 10 th game, a Great Lakes Valley Conference clash against Bellarmine, ended in a 76-72 defeat. They brought experience that the Norse parlayed into victories in eight of their first nine games. In addition, Cowens and Livingstone were transfers from other programs. "Then we thought, 'Well, gee, if people thought we were fifth in the country, maybe we are that good.' What I don't think we realized at the time is that we may have arguably had one of the best freshman classes in the history of our team." I remember Michele Tuchfarber saying, 'Coach, did you see we're fifth in the country? Have they seen us practice?' I just thought it was hysterical," Winstel said. We were ranked like fifth in the country. "I remember we were practicing in late October or early November and they brought out an early preseason Top 10. ![]() The sophomores were Cottrell and Suzie Smith, and the freshmen were Rebecca Bell, Amy Mobley, Bridget Flanagan and Kristin Polosky. Four were juniors: Heather Livingstone, Michele Tuchfarber, Julie Cowens and Jessica "Jecca" Jenson. ![]() Of NKU's 11 players, Lisa Geiman was the lone senior. Only two starters were back from a group that had reached the national semifinals in 1998-99. The 1999-2000 team was considered a year away from a deep postseason run. The title was the first of two Division II national championships for the Norse under coach Nancy Winstel, who won more than 600 games in her 29-year tenure. I'll never forget that time and those games." "To say that my teammates and I won the national championship is awesome. It was just a great time to play in the tournament like that - and not only play, but go to the very end," Marston said. Marston, 36, counts NKU's title run among the best experiences in her life. She scored 23 points and grabbed 19 points in the Norse's 71-62 overtime defeat of North Dakota State in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and was named tournament MVP. A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Marston stopped by her parents' house and watched a replay of the Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team's Division II national championship game from 2000.īack then, she was Michelle Cottrell.
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