By Matt Humphrey
Special to the Enquirer

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - So much for Nancy Winstel being a tough-as-nails coach who clams up after losses.

Northern Kentucky's women's basketball coach couldn't stop talking after South Dakota State defeated the Norse 65-50 in the NCAA Division II championship game.

Surrounded by four of her players in the postgame press room, Winstel displayed her gentler, softer side - a side that's in stark contrast to her loud, animated sideline persona.

She ended the press conference with tears in her eyes.

"I love them," said Winstel referring to her team, her seniors and their long, strange season that featured so many ups and downs. "As a coach, you've always got to love your kids.

"If you love them, you have to care enough to tell them something."

So Winstel told them she won't forget their moxie in the NCAA Tournament, especially after many had pegged the Norse for an unceremonious exit following their loss in the Great Lakes Valley Conference semifinals.

Winstel didn't talk to her team for two days after that 66-54 loss to Quincy March 7, but the silent treatment worked wonders.

As a No. 5 seed, the Norse won the Great Lakes Regional by beating three teams - Grand Valley State, Indianapolis, and Quincy - that beat them earlier in the season.

Then they traveled to the Elite Eight in St. Joseph and won two more games, which included a nail-biting 45-43 win against No. 1 California (Pa.) in the national semifinals.

And thanks to that run, the Norse (26-8) won't be remembered as a team that lost three out of five heading into the Tournament.

Instead, they'll be remembered for finishing the season on a 5-1 run, and 16 points shy of the school's second NCAA championship in four years.

"I don't know how we'll be remembered," NKU senior Kristin Polosky said, "but I think it's as one of the winningest teams ever at NKU."

Her senior class - guided by the inside-outside game of Amy Mobley and the 3-point shooting of Bridget Flanagan - finished their careers with a combined record of 109-22. As freshmen, all three played vital roles on the 2000 national championship team.

All three bolstered the school's national reputation by advancing to the Elite Eight three out of four years.

Underclassmen like sophomores Connie Meyers and Elizabeth Burrows, and freshman Sharell Snardon, know those seniors will be hard to replace.

"I'll miss them," said Snardon, who emerged from the seniors' shadows in St. Joseph and earned all-tournament team honors. "I learned a lot from them. I learned a lot from all of them."

And Winstel's final thoughts?

"They made up their mind that they were going to make their NCAA experience something to be remembered by," she said. "And we ended up 5-1 in the NCAA, but I think 5-1 is pretty doggone special."