GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The South Dakota State women’s basketball team surged in the second half to beat North Dakota 66-45 Wednesday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
The Jackrabbits trailed 28-20 at halftime, then outscored the Fighting Hawks 21-7 in the third quarter and 25-10 in the fourth. SDSU shot just 22 percent from the field in the opening half, then a blistering 74 percent after halftime.
Down eight at the break, Brooklyn Meyer put up four points within the first minute to cut the deficit in half. After a three-point play for UND, SDSU rattled off 17 straight to take the lead and held the Hawks without even a field goal attempt for more than four minutes late in the third quarter. Katie Vasecka, Haleigh Timmer and Madison Mathiowetz all knocked down 3-pointers during the stretch that put the Jackrabbits ahead 41-31.
UND ended the third with four straight, making it a six-point game. An 11-2 start to the fourth quarter quickly made it a double-digit game again and the Jacks stretched their lead to as many as 22 on another Mathiowetz triple.
Meyer finished with 19 points, 17 of which came on a 7-for-7 shooting effort in the second half. Timmer was also in double figures, scoring 14 points for the Jacks. She surpassed 1,000 career points in the victory to become the 44th member of the SDSU’s 1,000 point club.
Mesa Byom scored nine points – all in the first half – followed by Mathiowetz and Vasecka with eight points apiece.
The Jackrabbits forced the Hawks into 27 turnovers that resulted in 27 points. Timmer tallied four steals for the second straight game, matching her career high, while Mathiowetz, Byom and Vasecka had two apiece.
North Dakota out-rebounded SDSU 31-28. Mathiowetz and Kallie Theisen grabbed five boards each while Byom and Meyer each had four. Paige Meyer dished eight assists to go with four points. Byom added three assists.
SDSU improves to 20-3 overall and 10-0 in Summit League action. The Jacks have won at least 20 games for 14 consecutive years. UND falls to 8-15 on the year and 3-7 in the Summit League. The Fighting Hawks were led by Jocelyn Schiller’s 13 points.
NOTES
- Haleigh Timmer is the third active jackrabbit to reach 1,000 career points, joining Paige Meyer and Brooklyn Meyer.
- SDSU is now 39-41 against UND all-time but has won all but two games in the Jacks’ Division I era.
- SDSU is 5-3 when trailing at halftime this season.
- With eight assists Wednesday, Paige Meyer has passed current assistant coach Macy Miller on SDSU’s career assists chart. Meyer has tallied 432 assists in her career, ranking ninth all time.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State returns to Brookings to host Oral Roberts at 11 a.m. Saturday at First Bank & Trust Arena.