STORRS, Conn. – The No. 10 seed South Dakota State women’s basketball team won a game at the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history as it defeated No. 7 Oklahoma State, 74-68, Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.
SDSU improves to 30-3 on the season and has won 30 games for the third time in program history. The Jacks have won 20 straight games and will take on No. 2 seed UConn Monday.
The Jackrabbits trailed 31-24 at halftime but outscored the Cowgirls 50-37 while shooting 56 percent in the second half to pull off the opening round upset.
SDSU’s second-half surge was led by Madison Mathiowetz, who scored all 17 of her points after halftime and finished the game 6-of-7 from the floor. The junior was clutch down the stretch, connecting on all four of her free throw attempts in the final minute of the game.
Brooklyn Meyer and Paige Meyer scored 19 and 16 points, respectively, and grabbed eight rebounds apiece. Paige dished six assists. Haleigh Timmer rounded out the Jacks in double figures with 11 points to go with five rebounds. Mesa Byom led all players with 12 rebounds, her second straight game with double-digit boards.
SDSU’s offense struggled to find a rhythm in the first half but trailed by just seven at the break behind a strong showing on the defensive end. Both teams had scoreless stretches of at least five minutes in the second quarter.
The Cowgirls extended their lead to 11 points early in the second half – 37-26 – but the Jacks put together a 14-3 lead to regain the lead with 1:12 to play in the third. By the end of the quarter SDSU had the lead for good and would lead by as many as eight over the final 10 minutes.
South Dakota State finished with a 47-29 advantage in the rebounding column, including a 12-6 edge on the offensive glass. The Jacks scored 12 second chance points.
Oklahoma State’s Stailee Heard scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cowgirls, who finish their season with a 25-7 overall record.
NOTES
- SDSU improves to 6-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- SDSU is 2-0 all-time against Oklahoma State.
- Paige Meyer’s six assists matches SDSU’s program record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game
- Paige Meyer has dished 176 assists this season, a new single-season program record for South Dakota State. The previous record was 170, set by Erin Reiten in the 1995-96 season.
- The No. 10 Jackrabbits’ win is their second win all-time as a double-digit seed.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State will take on No. 2 Connecticut Monday. The game time is still to be announced.