BROOKINGS, S.D. – The South Dakota State women’s basketball team completed its third straight unbeaten Summit League regular season Saturday with a 79-46 win over St. Thomas at First Bank & Trust Arena.
The Jackrabbits are winners of 63 straight regular season conference games and are 81-1 dating back to the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Prior to last season, no Summit League team had ever gone undefeated in consecutive conference seasons, and now the Jackrabbits are the first team to do it three straight years.
Paige Meyer and Brooklyn Meyer combined for 52 points for the Jackrabbits with 27 and 25 respectively. Paige Meyer’s scoring output, the second best of her career, came on 11-of-17 shooting. She also contributed six assists, six rebounds and five steals. Brooklyn Meyer shot 11-for-15 and had seven rebounds and two assists.
The Jacks opened the game with a 9-0 lead, but St. Thomas stayed in the fight and tied the game at 21-all early in the second quarter. From there, SDSU ended the half on a 13-5 run to lead 34-26 at the break. After halftime, Brooklyn Meyer scored 11 of SDSU’s first 17 as the Jacks stretched their lead to 19 at 51-32. SDSU dominated through the rest of the contest on its way to a 33-point win.
Mesa Byom, also a senior, added 12 points on the day to go with seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Madison Mathiowetz scored seven points, including the Jacks’ lone 3-pointer. Senior Kallie Theisen scored seven points and Jenna Hopp rounded out the scoring with three points.
The Jacks finished the game 53 percent from the floor, at least 50 percent for the 14th time this season. SDSU forced 15 Tommie turnovers that resulted in 17 Jackrabbit points. On the other side, the Jacks committed only six turnovers that produced two points for the Tommies.
St. Thomas’ Amber Scalia paced the Tommies with 16 points, followed by Jade Hill and Alyssa Sand with 10 apiece.
NOTES
- SDSU held its opponent to a season-low scoring total for the second straight game.
- Two Jackrabbits scored at least 25 points for the first time since Macy Miller and Madison Guebert did so at North Dakota in the 2018 season.
- Paige Meyer’s 27 points are the second-highest total of her career. She scored 37 in a double overtime win at Northern Arizona last season, including 30 points in regulation.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits enter the Summit League Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the fifth straight season. SDSU will take on the winner of No. 8 Omaha vs. No. 9 Denver at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The entirety of the Summit League Tournament will be played at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.