SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 South Dakota State earned a sixth straight trip to the Summit League Women’s Basketball Tournament title game with a 76-63 victory over No. 4 seed South Dakota Monday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
Brooklyn Meyer scored a game-high 21 points and Paige Meyer chipped in with 20 as the Jackrabbits will go for their second consecutive title and 11th overall Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
SDSU led just 16-14 after the opening quarter but outscored the Coyotes 12-0 over a 4:40 stretch during the second stanza to gain control of the contest. Brooklyn Meyer had a dozen second-quarter points but USD grabbed a little momentum as Carley Duffney’s buzzer-beating triple cut SDSU’s lead to 37-30 at the break.
The Jackrabbits were able to take a 10-point advantage into the final quarter after Madison Mathiowetz scored eight of her 10 points out of the break to make it a 57-47 contest.
SDSU held USD’s leading scorer Grace Larkins in check in the opening three quarters, limiting her to eight points. Larkins tried to get the Coyotes back into things as the game wound down. Her second-chance basket with 2:28 made it a 66-61 contest but that would be as close as her team would get after the Jackrabbits closed things out with a 10-1 run.
Paige Meyer had her sixth and final steal of the game during that game-closing stretch and also added seven assists.
South Dakota State will take on the winner of the North Dakota State-Oral Roberts semifinal Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
Turning Point
Clinging to a 21-20 lead, SDSU reeled off the next 12 points over a four-plus minute stretch in the second quarter to seize momentum and never relinquish the lead.
Inside the Box Score
- The Jackrabbits shot 50 percent (25-for-50) from the floor while holding the Coyotes to a 40-percent clip (23-for-57).
- Both teams connected on six 3-pointers with USD needing 22 attempts and SDSU only needing 17 to make that many.
- Brooklyn Meyer and Paige Meyer scored 20-plus in the same game this season for the fifth time, finishing with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Four of those occurrences have been in SDSU’s last six games.
News & Notes
- This was the ninth all-time meeting between South Dakota and South Dakota State in the Summit League Women’s Tournament. With the victory, the Jackrabbits own a 6-3 edge in the series with this contest being only the second time the two have met outside the championship game.
- SDSU will play in its 13th title game in 16 tries on Tuesday and has won 10 of those contests. The Jacks are now 13-2 all-time in semifinal contests.
- The Coyotes finished the season with 21 victories, which was seven more than they won in head coach Kayla Karius’ first season in 2022-23.
- This marks the first time South Dakota lost in the semifinals, having won its previous nine during this round of the tournament.