BROOKINGS, S.D. – The South Dakota State women’s basketball team sent Frost Arena out on a high note Saturday with an 89-74 victory over North Dakota State to complete the Summit League season unbeaten. This season’s 16-0 conference mark paired with an 18-0 record a season ago makes the Jackrabbits the first Summit League team ever to go undefeated in consecutive years.
Three Jackrabbits finished with at least 20 points for the second time in three games. Brooklyn Meyer paced the squad by matching her career-high 29 points to go with 11 rebounds. Paige Meyer added 24 points and a team-best four assists, followed by Madison Mathiowetz with 21 points and five boards. The trio combined to go 31-for-44 from the floor.
South Dakota State held a three-point lead over the Bison, 73-70, with less than six minutes to play, then ended the contest scoring 14 of the game’s final 18 points. Brooklyn Meyer put away back-to-back layups followed by a Paige Meyer steal-and-score that put the Jacks up nine, 79-70, and forced an NDSU timeout at 4:50. NDSU’s Elle Evans scored the first two points out of the timeout, then Paige Meyer and Mathiowetz combined for an 8-0 stretch that put the game out of reach for the Bison. SDSU made its final nine shots of the game while holding NDSU to just one make in their final eight attempts.
The Jackrabbits finished 60 percent from the field for the third straight game, shooting 62 percent (36-for-58) with seven 3-pointers. The Bison went 26-for-58 with 12 treys. SDSU tallied a 38-26 edge in rebounding.
SDSU opened the contest with a 9-3 lead, then went back-and-forth with the Bison over the remainder of the opening quarter and led by one after 10 minutes. Mathiowetz and Brooklyn Meyer accounted for 16 of SDSU’s 22 first-quarter points. Brooklyn Meyer scored five points during an 8-0 run in the second quarter that put the Jackrabbits ahead by nine, 37-28, but the Bison would not go away, coming back to tie the game twice during the rest of the half. Jenna Hopp sank a pair of free throws to give SDSU a 46-44 lead at halftime.
The Bison again tied the game twice within the first minute of the second half, then a Mathiowetz 3-pointer gave the Jacks the lead for good at the 6:57 mark of the third quarter. An Ellie Colbeck triple put the Jackrabbits ahead by nine, 67-58, with 10 minutes remaining. NDSU worked back within three points of the Jacks over the first four minutes of the final period before SDSU’s 14-4 run to end it.
Colbeck finished with five points for SDSU. Tori Nelson contributed four points, six rebounds and four assists on her Senior Day.
NOTES
- A season-high 3,768 fans were in attendance for the Frost Arena finale.
- Tori Nelson completes her Summit League regular season career with a 78-4 record.
- South Dakota State has shot above 50 percent in five straight games and the ninth time in the conference season.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State enters the Summit League tournament as the No. 1 seed for the fourth straight year. With the top seed, South Dakota State earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of the No. 8 Kansas City and No. 9 Omaha matchup in Saturday’s second quarterfinal at 3 p.m. CT.