TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Averaging over 76 points per game and being one of the nation's top offensive teams hasn't been the main strength of the UW-Stevens Point women's basketball team in 2001-02.
     
Rather, it's been the Pointers' defense that's led the way for much of the season and Friday night, UW-Stevens Point showed it off to a national audience by rolling past Marymount (Va) 80-57 in the NCAA Division III semifinals at the Hulbert Center.
     
UW-Stevens Point advances to its first national championship game since beating Concordia-Moorhead for the 1987 title. The Pointers will face either DePauw (Ind.) or St. Lawrence (N.Y.) in the title game in their attempt to become the fourth team ever to win multiple national championships.
     
"The defense was really the difference in the game," said Pointers' coach Shirley Egner, who recorded her 199th career victory as her team limited Marymount to 30 percent shooting and forced 26 turnovers."It's been our staple all season and it feeds into our offense."
     
UW-Stevens Point was especially tough against Marymount first-team All-American senior guard Candice Brown, who had just two points, coming when the Saints stole the ball after a Pointer defensive rebound midway through the first half. Brown was one-for-11 shooting, had seven turnovers and fouled out.
     
"We've got more than one person that can play solid defense," Egner said. "I knew we'd make it difficult for her to score points."
     
Sophomore Andrea Kraemer defended Brown for much of the game, while Cassandra Heuer and Amanda Nechuta also spent time on the All-American.
   
"It was a great excitement for me to know she was an All-American," said Kraemer, who, with her teammates attended the championship banquet Thursday night when the award was announced."I was a little nervous at first, but then took it as another game and another big player to guard."
     
The Pointers jumped out to a 9-4 lead and never trailed in the game. UW-Stevens Point maintained that lead for the entire first half and led by as much as 11 before the Saints' Annetta Benjamin recorded a three-point play on the final play of the half to cut the lead to 33-25.
     
UW-Stevens Point led 40-30 with 13:32 left and went on a 13-3 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to pull ahead 53-33. Kraemer and Nechuta sparked the second half run as Kraemer scored 12 of her game-high 15 points and Nechuta had 11 of her 13 points during the half.
     
"I don't know how much different we did in the second half," said Nechuta, a freshman from Mosinee. "Our intensity was up a little bit, but we didn't change much."
     
The Pointers will now prepare for the championship game and Egner remains focused on her own squad for the title game.
     
"We're going to worry about the Pointers," she said when asked which team she'd like to face. "We're grateful and thankful we've got another opportunity to play. We've got one more game to play."