BROOKINGS The South Dakota State women outscored St. Thomas 47-20 in the second half on Thursday night and that led the Jackrabbits to a 75-55 victory at Frost Arena.
SDSU (10-5, 2-0) shot 35.4% from the field in the first half and then shot 65.4% in the second half. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said his team came out flat in the first half and played with more energy in the second half.
I was really pleased with the second half, Johnston said. First half I thought we were a little lifeless out there and we didnt have a lot of energy in us. We didnt play very well offensively and I thought that hurt our defense. The team did a nice job in the second half of playing harder and playing with more purpose and more certainty.
On the flip side, the Tommies shot 61.5% in the first half and the Jacks held them to 25% shooting in the second half. SDSU sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer said the Jacks talked about tightening things up on the defensive end in the second half and that led to the strong second half on the offensive end.
We talk about that all year. If we can guard people, defense will win games on the other end. Tonight, everything went well in the second half, She said.
UST (10-7, 2-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter but the Jacks fought back and trailed 17-15 at the end of the first. The two teams traded baskets in the first seven minutes of the second quarter but the Tommies closed the first half with an 8-3 run and led 35-28 at halftime.
The Tommies then led 39-34 two minutes into the second half and the Jacks went on a 15-3 run to seize control of the game. The Jacks led 55-47 at the end of the third quarter. They then stretched their lead to 67-53 at the midway point of the final quarter and were able to cruise to victory in their second conference game of the season.
SDSU shot 49.1% from the field for the game. The Jacks came into the game shooting 34% from three but on Thursday night they were 10-of-22 from beyond the arc, including 7-of-11 in the second half.Johnston said the Jacks are going to get a lot of open looks because of how much the defense is concerned with their inside game.
10-of-22 is really good. Were going to get threes. Brooklyn is so good inside. We have some other players that can get inside. Paige [Meyer] is so good at going to the basket. Teams help and collapse and thats going to open up things on the perimeter. We have to be a better passing team to see those players and then need to make some threes moving forward, Johnston said.
Brooklyn Meyer had a double-double to lead SDSU. She had 19 points, 10 rebounds, six blocks and two steals. Sophomore guard Madison Mathiowetz also had 19 points. She has developed into the third leading scorer behind Brooklyn Meyer and Paige Meyer. She said she came into the season with a mindset that she was going to need to score because of the season-ending injuries to Kallie Theisen and Haleigh Timmer.
I think coming in, knowing that we were going to need people to step up with the season we had ahead of us, I was ready to take on that challenge, Mathiowetz said.
Paige Meyer had 10 points and five assists. Jenna Hopp had eight points and Ellie Colbeck had six points. Both players came off of the bench and Johnston said hes been pleased with the minutes that the freshman and sophomore guards have played as of late.
I think Jenna has really come in and given us good minutes, especially lately, he said. Shes really found her confidence with where she fits in with what we do and how she can get to the basket. Shes really hard to guard when she gets down hill and gets going to the rim. Its been fun to see her grow as a freshman and shes really been playing a key role right away.
I think Ellie has taken some steps forward with making shots and taking more chances. Shes done a really nice job too. Both of those players were lucky to have come off of the bench.
The Tommies shot 41.4% from the field for the game and were 3-of-18 from three. They were led by Amber Scalia who had 20 points and four assists. Jo Langbehn had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Jade Hill had 10 points.
SDSU won the rebound battle 34-31. SDSU was 9-of-10 at the free throw line and UST was 4-of-7. The Tommies had 15 turnovers and the Jacks had 12.
SDSU is now on a four-game win streak. Johnston said he thinks the Jacks are starting to hit their stride because the players now know what their role is on the team.
I think when players know whats expected, know when theyre going to play, know what theyre supposed to do offensively and defensively, they just play with more confidence and are able to play harder. I like how were playing right now. Weve had some quarters that maybe havent gone our way, but these last handful of games weve taken a lot of steps in a good direction. I do feel like everyone is a lot more established of what we expect and theyre playing well in their roles, Johnston said.
The Jacks will host Denver on Saturday at 2 p.m. You can watch the game on Midco Sports Two or the Summit League Network.
Leave a Reply