When you play a Bison-Sioux game there were just so many fans there.

and you just wanted to beat them so bad.

North Dakota was kind of ahead of their time as far as supporting women's athletics, and it was exciting.

(woman) Funding for this program is made possible by the members of Prairie Public.

(male announcer) Here come the Sioux!

...won't get it, Meier the rebound!

And this crowd is so loud, you've got to be here to believe it!

(male narrator) What happened between 1991 and 1999 in a 70-mile stretch along I-29 remains unprecedented in the history of college athletics, as NDSU and UND would dominate Division II women's basketball on a national level.

The rivalry was fierce, made more so by the two bigger-than-life coaches, Amy Ruley and Gene Roebuck.

Intensity is the word with those two.

I mean, both of those coaches wanted to beat the other team so badly, they knew the importance of the game.

To the public they didn't come off to be the best of friends.

[laughs] In fact, a lot of the post game handshakes were just see ya later!

[laughs] [loud cheering] There was that recognition that hey there's good Division II women's basketball happening in North Dakota.

People appreciate it, they support it, they're out in full force for those games, and it really did bring a lot of pride, I think, to each university and to the community.

Basketball fans are basketball fans.

You put a good product on the floor in women's basketball, and you're going to get the fans, and that's what we did.

I mean, we had 2 very, very good teams that played very, very hard.

(male announcer) It's Katie Richards, 4-3 from the corner, 11 seconds in.

It was quite the rivalry; it was pretty fun, you know, for them in the stands having posters of Roebuck's head, you know, in their face, or vice versa with Amy.

That just made it even better.

You know it just got both teams pumped up, and I don't think they despise or hate each other.

I think it's just that competitive nature in coaching.

Coach really did a good job of that.

Win your next game, win your next game, win your next game.

That's really all we talked about.

And I think we'd had a lot of success in the past, so we weren't just focusing on oh gosh, we have to win, we have to win, but it's like we knew how to win.

It was full court, man-to-man, and it was that, you were just going to play defense, and you were going to hound, and you were just going to be there and you were going to play as hard as you possibly can, and when you got tired you're gonna to come out and somebody else was gonna come in.

We really bought into that-- it was everybody, that it was all of us for one common goal and it was about winning basketball games.

(male narrator) The intensity of the rivalry filtered down to the players very quickly, whether they were from North Dakota or not.

Everybody talked about, "Wait till you go up to UND, wait till you go up to UND," and it was like, I didn't really get a grasp on it, but when you walk in there, and being in Hyslop was just ridiculous, because it feels like everybody's on top of you there.

It was a little overwhelming, plus the fans were not that friendly, so it was like wow, okay, I get it.

(Durene Heisler) Coach Roebuck expected us to be there 2 hours or more before game time.

I was walking up to the gym and there were lines out the doors, and I was kind of shocked a little bit.

The doors were all locked, and I was wondering how I was going to get in.

People were lined up to get tickets 2 hours in advance, and I know, just having a shootaround, and we were shooting around in front of a thousand people.

I started WDAZ in '82, and for many years, the Sioux/Bison men's basketball game was the only game that got televised.

The women's game was not televised, until we had to televise it.

People were filling the arena for the women's games even before the men's game section of the doubleheader.

(narrator) Most years, the teams would play 3 times, twice in the regular season and then often in the regionals, with a trip to the elite 8 on the line.

And both teams knew their enemy quite well.

It seemed like they never got tired, [laughs] you know?

They just never wore out and they were just disciplined.

You could always tell that and yeah, just the full-court press, the pressure all the time.

But I think they were just a really disciplined team.

I just remember they would set picks and picks and picks.

I mean they had 4 out, 1 in, and it was just constantly going through screens and none of us were small girls.

So it was a physical battle the whole time.

(narrator) NDSU would make the first strides toward greatness in the '80s with superstar players like Pat Smykowski, coupled with Ruley's trademark, up-tempo, pressing fast-break philosophy.

Our intentions were really just to try to create a competitive program, recruiting, obviously, was local, and fortunately had a number of very talented women around the region who understood the importance of trying to play a more quality brand of basketball.

You know I just love to play.

When I played basketball, it was fun, it wasn't a job, it wasn't something I dreaded doing, (narrator) With Smykowski, NDSU would make the 1986 national title game losing to Cal Poly Pomona, and then reached the semifinals in 1988 before losing.

But the program was heading in the right direction.

We brought it to a different level when it came to it.

It wasn't no longer a 4- or 5-month season; it was a 12-month season, and we brought a competitiveness and will to win that I think led to, or helped lead to some of the success that they had in the future.

(male announcer) Here comes Ihry, she's got some room, outdishes to Heisler for 3.

(male narrator) Meanwhile, the moment for UND that would change everything happened in 1987, when Roebuck left Lake Region College in Devil's Lake to take the UND job.

And he brought with him a tenacious guard named Durene Heisler.

'87, '88, '89, that's when I think women's basketball really took off.

We had some outstanding games with NDSU, whether they were at our place at the Hyslop, or at their place.

(male announcer) Durene for 3!

She's got great strength, and if she's left alone she'll take all day long.

(narrator) With the likes of Heisler, Whitney Meier and Beth Ihry, the first big showdowns for UND with NDSU with national implications, happened during the 1990 season.

You have those games where you're on the good side you have those games where you're on the lopsided side, and that game, UND just couldn't do many things wrong.

(narrator) UND would go on to lose in the Elite 8 to Cal Poly Pomona, but like NDSU, the table was set for the decade.

(male announcer) Here's Nadine Schmidt!

Led by sophomores Nadine Schmidt and Jody Buck, 1991 would be different, marked by a regular season win by the Bison over the Sioux, 86-75 in Grand Forks, when UND was ranked number one in the nation.

The catalyst for the '91 Bison women, was that crushing 90-58 loss to UND in the 1990 regionals.

Last year we had the 2 losses here and we wanted to come in this year and show 'em that we weren't afraid of Hyslop and we knew we could take 'em.

In our freshman year, when we got beat in the playoffs, that was probably the biggest eye-opening loss of my career, turned everything around for me.

I can remember that game like yesterday.

I mean, they just took it to us and they just deserved to win that game, but they really blew us out, and I remember after that, Nadine and I talked and we're like this is never happening again, we're not going to let this happen.

I think that motivated us to be successful after that.

(narrator) The Bison women would avenge the 1990 region loss by beating the Sioux in the 1991 region final.

(male announcer) Young but experience herd defeated host Southeast Missouri State University.

(narrator) Then it would be on to the nationals, where NDSU would win their first national title over Southeast Missouri State, 81-74.

(male announcer) The national championship in Division II women's basketball belongs to the Bison of North Dakota State!

It was really a fun first national championship, to be on the road and you know that creates a different environment too, you're all together and we had a good number of fans that traveled there to support us.

Buses went, families went, and so it really was a very exciting time, and it just whet our appetite for more of those kind of opportunities.

It was overwhelming, and we had a great following.

The whole experience was phenomenal and we had come together, overcome some things that year as a team, and winning that was just icing on the cake.

It was awesome, yeah, to beat that team that was favored to win it and on their home court.

They were a very intense, up-tempo team.

We kinda had to adjust our style a little bit for them, and we did and we ended up coming on top.

(male announcer) Bison with 6 wins in a row coming in here.

And there's 3 for Jody Buck!

(narrator) One of the more memorable Bison/Sioux games of the '90s, happened the next season, in 1992, in Grand Forks, when a controversial ending gave NDSU the victory.

(male announcer) Puts it up for 3, short, Peterson battles after... foul on Oistad... 5 seconds left.

I don't like it.

One-and-one for Peterson.

This is the ball game.

Tie game.

A chance to put the Bison up by one.

[loud cheering] Did they pressure the ball?

Yes.

Three seconds; here's Pudenz.

They gotta hurry, Oistad turns and shoots, short!

Bison win!

(narrator) But despite fielding quality teams again, and even beating NDSU 62-56 in a memorable 1993 game, UND would fail to make the region finals in '92 and '93.

And NDSU would qualify for nationals again.

The '92 Bison team was perhaps even better than the '91 edition, as sophomore Darcy Steere became a star, and highly touted freshman Lynette Mund, grew up fast.

Even the very first day that I played, uh, I came in and Nadine Schmidt, I remember, I'll never forget it, I drove in the lane, she stole the ball from me, before I knew it, they were shooting lay up on the other end I was like whoa, this is the big time.

(male announcer) A furious second half rally by North Dakota State fell 2 points short with Delta State University posting a 65-63 victory over the Bison for an NCAA... That loss still kind of makes me ill thinking about it.

It was tough, not only because we lost, but because we were on our home court and upset by one or two points.

The way we lost; we just didn't perform that night.

(male announcer) 10 seconds on the shot clock, stolen away, here's Mund for the Bison.

Pudenz going in and... (narrator) The Bison would get their rematch with Delta in the 1993 national title game, and this time, they would bring their A game, trouncing Delta 95-63.

We knew that was our goal, was to win that national championship that year after having that bad taste from the year before.

And all the underclassmen, they just went along with us and wanted that goal as well.

It was just the perfect game; a great way to end the career.

It was a beautiful thing that we ended up playing them again for the seniors and whoever was on the team before, and I had no question in my mind that we weren't going to win that game.

Jody and Nadine were just fantastic leaders, I have told Nadine that it was so great they just welcome and like I immediately had a family.

I stepped on and boom!

It was like they were going to take care of me.

You win that game and then just to have that celebration time with first my teammates and then my family was unbelievable, and it's what drove me to make sure that it was going to happen the next year, the next year, and the next year.

(male announcer) Here comes Pudenz, it's short but Kleinsasser pulls up (narrator) In UND country 1994 was supposed to be different.

A truly dominant team with good guards and plenty of height, the Sioux rolled through the regular season undefeated and beat NDSU twice, now without their graduated leaders, Buck and Schmidt.

The focus of the '94 team was the dominant Sheri Kleinsasser, one of the best players in UND history.

She was just so good, and she was such a fun player to play against because she wasn't conceited, cocky, she just played hard and you really had to respect that about her.

My junior year was, I still think one of the best teams at UND, just our chemistry.

We just matched up really well with them.

(narrator) Hosting an all NCC regional at Hyslop with NDSU, South Dakota State and Augustana, UND was in the driver's seat in '94.

But disaster struck in the semifinals against South Dakota State as the Jackrabbits shocked the Sioux and won by 10.

I know I got in foul trouble early on, and coach always had a rule, if you had 2 fouls you sat out.

So I was out most of the first half and I, uh, I still, yeah, that's an angst with me for sure.

We just never got it going then, and it was just like, I don't know, it was like we got in slow motion, and we got behind, and then it was just, I don't know even how to explain it-- it was horrible.

(narrator) NDSU cruised to its fourth straight regional title.

The Bison would take advantage of UND's misfortune by beating Augustana in their semifinal, and then beating SDSU to go on to nationals.

They lost to the Jackrabbits and I couldn't have been happier about that!

[laughs] They probably were the better team, but that's why you play the game, and that's the way it works.

(narrator) North Dakota State's toughest journey test came in the quarterfinals against number 2 ranked Missouri Western.

NDSU got another big break by getting to host the nationals at the Bison Sports Arena and beat Cal State San Bernardino 89-56 in the championship.

Despite losing 5 games in '94 and not beating UND at all, NDSU had its 3rd title in 4 years.

(Jen Rademacher) My junior year, best team, I mean clearly, and not just 'cause we were undefeated, but like I said, it was just all the spots were filled and then you'd have the backups who could start on a lot of other teams.

(narrator) The '95 Bison would be one of the all-time great teams, going undefeated.

I credit our leadership of our upperclassmen and my staff to keeping our team really motivated and keeping them focused.

(narrator) There was no stopping the herd as they rolled over Portland State in the national title game 98-85.

I think we'd had a lot of success in the past, so we weren't just focused on oh gosh, we have to win, we have to win, but it was like we knew how to win.

(male announcer) Not an empty seat in this house, folks.

No, it's kind of neat to be here and see that, Pat.

They brought in extra seating for tonight's game.

This is Kasey Morlock...

The end of my junior year, that was probably some of the best basketball we'd ever played, and probably one of the best teams we had been on.

(narrator) During the 1996 season, the Bison would stretch their win streak to 49 games before losing to Duluth.

(male announcer) It comes off to Rademacher for North Dakota State.

Rademacher pushing the ball up the floor, and it's going to count!

(narrator) In 1996, the Bison would finally play a young and talented UND team in the region finals, with the Bison winning.

The Sioux were getting closer and closer, but frustration was mounting in Grand Forks, as the NDSU national titles piled up.

Amy's, in my opinion, the toughest coach I've ever coached against.

She has a calm way of doing things, but she's still a very intense competitor, and I think with the talent she had, she got that talent to play well, and play extremely well to win national championships.

It was frustrating, and it was rewarding.

It was frustrating 'cause you don't want to lose; you want to get to the national championship, but we were knocking at the door and our players were giving everything they had.

(male announcer) They're like the knockout punch is on its way.

(narrator) A 5th title in 6 years came NDSU's way with a 104-78 slaughter of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in the national title game.

That was another very good basketball team, and although we did drop a couple games throughout the year, it was one where that momentum that we had established, we felt like we could continue to carry.

(narrator) And for Jen Rademacher and fellow senior Lori Roufs, they would live the dream with 4 national titles in their 4 years at NDSU.

It's surreal and amazing and honestly, looking back now, it was like just no way.

We had the perfect everything, the perfect chemistry, the perfect talent, perfect luck.

Nobody got hurt, we never had a major injury in 4 years.

So it's one of those things where, you know, I'm so thankful that I just got to be there at that snapshot in time.

(narrator) Amy Ruley's 29-year coaching reign at NDSU stands as a beacon of success for the growth of women's basketball in our region Her intensity and will to win, rubbed off on her players, who were like family to her.

I probably get more credit than I deserve.

I think parents deserve those credits, and the quality of the kids.

I think as a coach, you have a responsibility to make a commitment to them beyond just basketball, and to try to help them.

She's awesome; I think at the time, I think every year that goes by as you age, you have a greater respect for her.

But we were better prepared for the teams that we played than I think the teams were.

We knew their offenses, we knew their defenses.

She was a warrior, she was a motivator.

I loved her attitude and her intensity and she was not in-your-face coach, but she would come and talk to you on a level that you could understand.

It was mostly her intensity that I related to really well.

Wasn't just lessons on the basketball court, but lessons about life, self-discipline, morals, character-- we talked about that a lot.

(narrator) Despite her retirement from coaching in 2008, Ruley remains at NDSU in the athletic department, and has never regretted her decision to shun job offers and remain at NDSU.

We would tell them, once a Bison always a Bison, and that's true.

They stay connected to the program and we enjoy those relationships.

So you appreciate that opportunity you have as a coach to touch them hopefully in a positive way.

(male announcer) Morlock quickly down floor, she'll get an open lay-up.

(narrator) Led by NDSU all-time leading scorer Kasey Morlock, the '97 Bison were looking for a 6th national title in 7 years.

(male announcer) Dirk gets back; Morlock off the glass.

UND was getting closer and closer, but still couldn't get over the hump, losing twice in the regular season to the unbeaten Bison.

The frustration would be we would be up by 15 points, then they would come back, and they would, and they're beating us, so we just never closed out a game with them.

(narrator) But on a Sunday night in Fargo, the two teams met again in the region final, and it looked like more of the same as the Bison led 64-54 late in the second half, when Gene Roebuck called a time out.

I recall calling a time out, we're 10 down, I was telling them to get their heads up.

I don't know how much time is left, I'm assuming about 5 minutes left on the clock.

At that point, it's like here we go again.

We're close, but we're not going to get to where we want, and they're undefeated at the time.

This was it, either we come out of this huddle, figure things out or we might just as well pack it up and be done.

I can remember that too, coming over the loudspeaker that you can get your tickets, you can pick 'em up at the front.

The game wasn't over with, and we knew that, so we were going to do our best to get back in the game and try to win it.

(narrator) And as often happens in sports, the good times can't last forever.

And out of the time out, led by Tiffany Pudenz' game high 32 points, the Sioux women would go on a shocking 19-2 run and win 73-66, altering the course of the rivalry.

The moment I remember at the end was when Jaime hit those free throws to kind of seal, seal our lead in a win, because just 2 weeks prior to that, we'd lost to the Bison by Jaime missing those free throws.

When we get so close and we had lost to them previous, and I missed those free throws, and to me I was a little embarrassed as well.

I was just hoping for another chance.

And the first one certainly bounced around a little bit, but it did go in, and then the second one went in, so it was a great feeling.

That regional tournament, oh, that was, it give me goose bumps just thinking about it and what Tiffany Pudenz did.

She just looked at everyone and said, get on my back, we're not losing here.

I guess I'm a bad loser, so I was just sick of losing, so it was just like we came into that game and just said, what is there to lose?

This time it was just something that we had to do.

(Amy Ruley) We sure had a great year and I think we represented the University real well and themselves personally really well, and I wouldn't want any other team than the one we came in here with today; I'm proud to be their coach.

They went on this big run, and I think that we just, we couldn't stop them, and to be honest with you, we haven't been in that position almost ever.

At the time it stunk, but it doesn't cloud my memories.

It's the reason that you play the game and thinking that you're going to win 4 national championships is probably unrealistic.

(female announcer) Whoever doesn't shoot it too bad from beyond the arc but I don't think that's the first option.

(male narrator) The Sioux would go on to host the Elite Eight at Hyslop and win the national title over Southern Indiana 94-78.

Winning that national championship on our home floor in front of all of our fans.

The players before us had waited how long to get one of those?

To be able to do that, it was just unbelievably amazing.

NDSU was such a huge, huge hurdle to get over, then to do that, then listen to people throughout the Elite Eight, just saying, still saying we weren't good enough, you know, you start to take that personal, and it was good to have 'em come to our house; it was like, we are good enough.

I remember thinking when Sheri graduated, like oh yes, Sheri's gone, and then when we played UND, the first time, I'm like, who's this?

(narrator) The "who's this" was Jennie Crouse from Illinois.

The 6-foot-3-inch post player was a vital key in shifting basketball fortunes from NDSU to UND in the late '90s.

Her low post presence neutralized NDSU's inside game, and allowed the Pudenz sisters open shots from long range.

The teams packed it in on Jennie.

(male announcer) The Sioux on offense, the Bison in a man-to-man defense, Crouse inside off the glass, count it.

The 1998 team might have, might have been a little more solid depth-wise and everything.

Jaime Pudenz was at the point, we had Tiffany Pudenz, and we had Katie at the four spot, Katie Richards and Jennie Crouse, who was an All-American that year.

(narrator) By 1998, the Sioux, with their stars now a year older, had become the dominant team.

The Bison, without their graduated superstar, Morlock, suffered an 85-59 drubbing to UND that year, and the Sioux were never challenged en route to a 92-76 win in the national title game over Emporia State.

We had everything in place, the posts and the perimeter, and so everything was kind of clicking.

We had that year of experience.

It just fed off the next year where we could make anything happen.

The third one was heartbreaking 'cause it's your last year, it's your last game, but it was a bit of relief that we ended on top too.

(narrator) There were many keys to UND's 3 straight national titles, not the least of which was Coach Roebuck's coup, of recruiting the Pudenz sisters, Tiffany and Jaime.

My freshman-sophomore year were okay years, but my junior and senior years you could see that I even improved just because of Jaime there and us two playing on the front court.

I think we just read each other very well.

(male announcer) Solid man-to-man defense by the Bison and Amundson blocked out well to get the rebound.

Kuren finds Jayne Even inside.

(narrator) The glorious national run of women's basketball at UND and NDSU, would end with the Bison and Jayne Even losing the 2000 national title game to Northern Kentucky in overtime.

(male announcer) A bomb from Hoffner.

Good!

(narrator) UND would make another title game appearance in 2001, led by Jennie Bull and Tanya Jones, but they would falter late and lose to Cal Poly Pomona in overtime 87-80.

That means in an 11-year span, from 1991 to 2001, NDSU and UND would win 8 national titles and come in second 3 other times.

It's a legacy not only unprecedented, but one that has shaped the lives of the women who battled each other on the court.

I don't know if you'll ever, ever be able to do that in such a close proximity of schools, and really feeding off of the same recruiting base, to be able to do what was done by, you know, Coach Roebuck and Coach Ruley in those times.

Everybody should have goals and when a person actually meets those goals, it's a confidence booster, because whatever you did, individually or as a team worked.

It basically means that you're okay at something, and if you work hard enough, if a person works hard enough and does the right things, good things are going to happen.

It's taught me a lot about life.

It's just something that I think about, whether I'm raising children or working on the farm, and just doing things well.

To have that ability that you were on a winning squad, to have the coaches you had, the players that you had with you, and to have that championship behind you, you understand what work ethic means.

I know that I can do whatever I want to, 'cause I've already done it once.

I know I can set a goal that for some people it would be like, there's just now way-- well for me, there's a way.

I might not reach it, but I'll certainly get higher than a lot of other people, 'cause I know it's possible.

In my life, with some of my health things, I guess you learn that things aren't given to you, and you just have to keep on fighting.

And that's the same thing with basketball is that you're as good as you want to make yourself.

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